Wizards and Ninjas
by Iris-Phoenix
Summary: Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji and Gaara are assigned a mission-from Hogwarts. They must blend in, and work with the teachers to make sure that a certain trouble-magnet doesn't get himself killed this year.
1. Farewells

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Naruto or 'Harry Potter' simple, wish I did, but yeah…anyway-onwards with the story! And please R&R, I need feedback!

Author's Notes: After Sasuke ran off…And…well, I think a few places in this chapter suck, 'cause I had no idea what to write, so bear with me. Sorry, read on!

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

**Chapter One: Farewells**

It was a fine day outside, a few clouds to watch, not too hot, not too cold even with the slight breeze blowing. For a few people this was a perfect time to be out and about. For others it was the perfect time to take a nap.

Tsunade had her head down on her desk, again, completely ignoring that mountain of paper work threatening to fall on her. She hadn't gotten half way through it, even thought Shizune said that it was her duty as the Hokage to finish _every single one._ So, yes, the heavily blessed blond was fast asleep, yet again, despite the looming threat of an angry Shizune. Still, in Tsunade's mind, she deserved some time off, right? Not if you were to ask Shizune, who was going to have her head for this, if she caught her napping again. Thankfully, for Tsunade, she had learned how to wake up whenever footsteps were heard coming towards the door.

And she heard a pair of feet racing towards her door right then. Her head snapped up, and she wiped her face, just incase she had drooled in her sleep like last time. That had _not_ been fun, when she had been found out.

One of the guards had raced to the tower, at top speed, from the way he was breathing.

"Hokage-sama! A stranger is coming this way! He says he needs to talk to you, about something; I tried to tell him you didn't want to see anyone. He says his name is…Durlddor? Durbleor?" the guard seemed to be having trouble with the man's name, judging from the fact that he was glaring at the floor like it had grievously offended him. Didn't matter, seeing as how Tsunade knew who the guard was talking about, and had met the man before, just once.

He was an odd one, who seemed to have great talent. Though with that talent came even _bigger_ trouble. She groaned inwardly, if he was coming here then he needed something, probably shinobi for a mission of sorts, and she had a very good idea of what type of mission. A-rank at the least. Damn, and they had very few jounin or chunnin left. Oh dear, this was going to be _interesting._

"It's Dumbledore, isn't it?" she asked, after the chunnin tried to pronounce the name a few more times.

"Hai! I think that's how he pronounced it. We tried to stop him, but we can't seem to get close to him to even hit him or anything, and that weird stick he has seems to be pushing us back." The man responded. Tsunade sighed, she had a very good idea why they couldn't get close, and what that 'weird stick' thing was. He had just confirmed that it was indeed Dumbledore, without meaning to. Well, she had better just let him in…

"It's fine, I know him. Let him in." she replied, and the guard bowed, and ran back down to let him in. Within moments the guard's footsteps had faded, and Tsunade had her head on the desk, once again. Only this time because she was frustrated. Which was happening a lot these days, and irritating a super-powerful shinobi like Tsunade was off everyone's list for the time being, even Naruto's. And right now she felt like tearing her hair out by its _roots_, why did he have to come now?! Why not next year, or better yet, never? A knock on the door, and the creak of the hinges had her snapping her head up again.

"Ah. Tsunade-san. I hope I did not come at a bad time." Dumbledore said as he walked into the room. Tsunade shook her head, acting as if she hadn't been ready to turn homicidal.

"No, not disturbing anything," she said with a smile, shoving the papers on her desk off it in one sweep of her arm, still smiling. Dumbledore smiled and pulled out the 'weird stick' thing that the guard had mentioned, gave it a wave, and summoned an armchair. He seated himself, with his hands folded neatly under his chin.

"I suppose you know why I am here, yes?" he asked as soon as he was seated and they were both comfortable. Tsunade sighed, and nodded.

"You need Konoha's resources for something." She said, referring to the shinobi.

"Yes, yes, I do, in fact, require Konoha's assistance on something. One of my students, you know the one-Harry Potter, has become the target of a rather dangerous criminal who just managed to escape…I would like for him to have some protection. Some who could blend in with the school setting." He said, and Tsunade shrugged.

"Your Ministry doing anything about this?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Dumbledore sighed, before he answered.

"Yes…they are providing…guards of sorts. But they have already failed once, and I would rather _not_ trust them." Tsunade sighed, and got up to rummage through folders.

"Any specific age range or what?" she asked, as she managed to pull out a pile of folders on the available ninja. Dumbledore nodded.

"Around the ages of thirteen." He responded, and more than half the folders went flying, courtesy of the Hokage.

"Well, I have a few of that age right here." She said, handing him the folders. Dumbledore leafed through the four folders, and nodded.

"Good, but they will have to learn magic and how to cast spells, to blend in," he said, as he placed the folders down. Tsunade nodded, before standing.

"Well. You stay here, while I go get them." She responded. This was a good way to get out of paperwork.

Shizune was going to be _pissed._

--------------

Neji was trying to beat Shikamaru in a game of chess, but was failing miserably. Not as badly as others had, but still he was losing all the same. They were at Shikamaru's favorite place, and finally Neji just flopped over, onto his back. Shikamaru had won…again. Well, at least this time he had lasted longer…and almost won, if you judged by how long it took for Shikamaru to think out his next move. Both perked up at the sound of running footsteps, as someone raced up the stairs.

Next they knew they had Kiba hiding behind Shikamaru. He looked like he had managed to get himself into more trouble than necessary.

"Tch. Kiba, what did you do?" Shikamaru asked, and Kiba shrugged.

"I don't know, Shika, but we have visitors. The Sand Siblings have arrived. And I think Gaara is mad at me…" at that point both Neji and Shikamaru were ready to bolt for the nearest building, and leave Kiba to fend for himself. Gaara?! He had managed to anger Gaara?!

Neji was on his feet, and peering over the railing, only to see a certain red-head climbing the stairs.

"Shikamaru? He's climbing the stairs…" he called, and turned to see Kiba had pulled Shikamaru to a sitting position, and was using him as a wall. He turned back to come face-to-face with the sea-green eyes of Gaara. His own eyes widened as he jumped back a few feet. That was unnatural the way he could just sneak up on people! Gaara glared, and Neji backed up more, from what he had heard about Gaara, this was one person you did not tick off.

"There you are." A familiar, and welcomed voice at the moment, said. Tsunade was right behind the group, and looked extremely happy about something.

"Now, I've got a mission for the four of you. It's a guard mission, year-long. The client is an old friend of mine. I'll explain the rest at my office. Now hurry up." She said, before forming the few seals to teleport herself back to the Tower.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru mumbled, and Gaara glared at them.

"You are hiding him." He stated, and Kiba chose that moment to run for it.

--------------

They arrived at her office, more or less in one piece, to see her and a stranger seated, with a few sake bottles around Tsunade's desk. And she didn't look as if she was anywhere near drunk. That worried a few of them.

"Well, you four took your time…anyway let's get down to the introductions. This is Dumbledore-san," the old man stood, and bowed to the four shinobi, as Tsunade went on to introduce them, "Dumbledore-san, this is Nara Shikamaru," Shikamaru bowed, muttering his usual phrase under his breath, "Inuzuka Kiba," Kiba bowed as well, and Akamaru barked, "Subaku no Gaara, a shinobi from Suna" Gaara responded with a simple stare, "last is Hyuuga Neji," and Neji bowed in return.

"Ah, pleased to meet the four of you." Dumbledore responded, and nodded. Well, these four would do fine.

"Dumbledore will explain the mission, and then you can decide if you wish to accept." Tsunade said, and went back to her desk. The four shinobi snapped into the normal mode they would when receiving a mission briefing; lined-up, and dead silent. Dumbledore glanced back to Tsunade, and she simply nodded. She knew how unnerved someone could get to see teenagers-young teenagers mind-acting like full-grown adults, could be.

"Ah, well. I am Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he was glad that none of them showed any inclination to call him crazy-aloud that is. So he went on, "I need a certain student to be protected. He has become the target of a very dangerous and powerful criminal. His name is Harry Potter. If you take the mission, you will have to blend in, and learn how to cast spells, and such. It is a year long mission." Dumbledore finished, and the four shinobi looked over to Tsunade to see if she had just been pulling a prank on them. When they found her serious-faced and arms crossed they decided that she wasn't joking. And neither was he. Well, it would be interesting.

"I accept." Four voices chorused, and Tsunade nodded. That was good.

"Now, go and pack. You leave today. Say your goodbyes, and whatever else. Be back in an hour." She said, and the shinobi took off, to go and get ready.

------------

Gaara had made up with his siblings after the little 'mishap' with Shukaku. They were the only family left, and Baki was included in it. He didn't know why they were in Konoha in the first place, but he had taken a mission with them now, so he left to tell his 'family' what was going on.

"Gaara! Please tell me you didn't injure the Inuzuka child." Temari called, as soon as she saw her little brother.

"Yeah, after all we may have to work-" Kankuro began, only to have Gaara cut him off.

"I'm gong on a year-long mission with him. And two of his friends." He said, in a completely flat voice. His siblings, and sensei stared at him for a moment before it clicked.

Year-long mission. With the person who made him angry.

They felt sorry for Kiba now. He was in for it, and Gaara was definitely not one to be taken too lightly-that usually resulted in a very bad 'accident' of some sorts.

"Well…um…good luck?" Kankuro offered, when no one said anything for a few minutes. Temari elbowed him.

"Yeah, we'll miss you, and have fun." And Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow at her last comment, and she waved it off. Baki nodded, and left his response non-verbal. And with his 'family and friends' notified, he left for the Tower, and simply sat down at the base to wait for the others to show up. He simply closed his eyes and got as close to sleep as he could without actually sleeping.

----------------

Kiba tore off to his house, and began pitching things into his bag as soon as he got to his room, and found his pack. His room was a disaster zone, and he liked it that way. It was _not_ messy-he knew where everything was. Still…he wondered how that moldy something-or-other ended up under his bed…and when was the last time _that_ had been washed? He simply flung that stuff to one corner of his room. He tore things apart, and finally managed to gather everything that would be needed, including pictures, and stuffed it all into the bag-the pictures on top. After he finished that he bounded downstairs to tell his parents and sister that he was leaving.

"Mom! Dad! Hana! I'm leaving on a year-long mission!" he yelled, and before he could go more than four steps his sister had him in a hug. This being the number one reason he tried to run for the door as soon as he had announced that he was leaving.

"Aww…be good, okay?" she said, as their parents came into view to see their son in the bear hug of his sister. She loved to do this to him, seeing as how he was never one for over-zealous hugging…she did it because she found it funny. He didn't.

"Ack! Hana! Put me down!" he snapped, and his sister tightened her grip before dropping him in response. His mother came over and patted him on the head, and ruffled his hair.

"Before you go, a few things for what you're going to miss." His mother said, and Kiba groaned-inwardly. He was going to miss Christmas, and he regretted taking the mission for the briefest of seconds. What was handed to him, was a new jacket, thick and black with matching fur lining-His parents' gift. Hana gave him a bag of treats for Akamaru. Then came the farewells.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do." His father said, after giving him a pat on the shoulder. His mother turned to her husband with a wicked grin.

"Oh, I think he would be better off doing the opposite of what you do. Anyway, good luck." She responded, and his father rolled his eyes and nodded. Kiba smiled, picked Akamaru up, and ran out the door. He arrived just as Gaara was closing his eyes, the gourd near his side.

'_Wonderful company…'_ he thought, sarcastically, as he sat down farthest away from the Subaku, and began to pet his puppy, wondering when the others would show up.

--------------

Neji looked around his room-war zone-he corrected himself. It looked like Lee had used it as a training ground, against Tenten. He sighed, and began cleaning up his mess, as he looked for the things he needed. He was glad that his uncle hadn't come into his room, because he would have thrown a fit. After a few more minutes of cleaning and searching he found everything needed, and made his room more livable. Well, that's what he got for just throwing things around for those last-second missions. He was finally packed, and he threw in a few pictures of his teammates, and his remaining family. He was going to be posing as a student, so a few pictures would be a touch that was needed. Plus he had a feeling that he would miss them after being gone a year. After finishing packing he went to tell his uncle that he was leaving on a mission. As soon as he got to the meeting room, where he had been told his uncle was, he could hear him talking to someone. Hinata, from the sounds of it. So he was going to have to wait for them to finish. He seated himself nearby, and waited. The door opened, and Hinata came out, and almost tripped over his bag.

"Hinata-sama!" Neji exclaimed, as he scrambled up to catch his klutz of a cousin. He shook his head as she babbled something, and stood up.

"G-gomenisai! I-I didn't-" she said, as she pushed two of her fingers together, before Neji cut her off.

"Hinata-sama, please. It's fine, now I need to talk with Hiashi-sama-" he was cut off by Hinata's gasp, and he knew that she would have been able to piece it together. After all, she was a very intelligent young lady.

"Oh, you're leaving on a mission…but for how long?" she asked, and Neji sighed, and answered.

"A year-long mission. I leave today." He responded, and Hinata began to fidget.

"Stay here after you finish talking to him…okay? I-I have something I want to give you…"she said, and Neji nodded, and Hinata raced off. He shook his head, wondering what she wanted to give him so badly, before entering the meeting room. Hiashi looked up as Neji bowed low enough that his hair brushed the floor. Hiashi stood, and walked over to his nephew.

"Neji. Raise your head." At this Neji looked up, to see his uncle was standing near him. He straightened, much to the relief of his uncle.

"Hiashi-sama. I have a year-long mission. I start today." Neji said, without much preamble. Hiashi sighed, but nodded. He truly was his father's son, he never beat around the bush.

"Good luck. Don't do anything reckless." This had become a common saying whenever he left on a mission, after the 'incident' with Kidomaru. Neji bowed, then turned and left the room. He sat down and waited for Hinata to show up. He didn't have to wait long, as she scampered down the hall, and almost crashed into Neji.

"Ah! G-gomen! Nii-san, if you're going to be gone for an entire year, you'll miss Christmas. I-I got you something…" with that she thrust a small, ornate, box at him. He took it gingerly, and opened it when she began to fidget. It was a necklace. It had a thin silver chain, and a polished tear-shaped stone of black onyx. A spot of white caught his eye, and upon closer inspection he found it was the eye of a falcon, carved into the stone. He looked up again, and found that Hinata was pushing her two fingers together again.

"Thank you." He said, and he really meant it, as he placed the necklace back in its box, and the box into his bag. Hinata went a bit red, and stammered something.

"I-I thought you would like it…it's supposed to be good luck." She said, and Neji nodded.

"I got to go now…" he said, as he turned and left, now wondering what he could get her for Christmas.

----------------

Shikamaru meandered his way home-somehow his chess set had ended up under his arm, and he dropped it on his bed as soon as he reached his room, and sighed. He kept his room clean, saying it was 'too troublesome' to have to look for what he needed, so he kept everything organized. He pulled out his bag and began to dump the stuff he would need into it. As soon as he was done he slung the bag over his shoulders, and went back downstairs, to tell his parents what was going on.

"Oy! Mom! Dad! I'm leaving on a mission!" he called as he walked down the stairs. His mother poked her head out from the kitchen.

"Shikamaru, you could say how long it is for." She reprimanded him, and her son sighed.

"It's for a year, and starts today." He responded, and his mother's expression changed immediately.

"Oh! Oh no…Shika, wait here!" and with that she tore off to the room she and her husband shared. Shikamaru had no idea what was going on, and simply stood there, waiting for his mother to show back up. Some shouting from upstairs told him that his mother had woken his father. As the noise got louder he figured that they were getting closer, and that also told him that she-and his father-should be appearing at the top of the stairs about-

"Now you listen to me! He's leaving for a year! You are going to help me give this to him, _before_ he leaves!" his mother and father were at the top of the stairs and walking down them. His mother was carrying a box under her arm. His two parents stopped in front of him and gave him the box.

"Open it. I'm sure it'll help on the mission, and it was supposed to be a Christmas present…" his mother left off, and his father simply picked up her unfinished thought.

"But with you being gone for the holiday, we decided to give it to you now." He said. Shikamaru sighed, and opened the box, and unfolded what was in it. A new chess set, this being a bit more portable than the one he had left on his bed. He looked up to his parents.

"Cure for boredom for those long missions huh?" he asked. Both his parents nodded. He thanked them and stuffed the set into his pack. He set off towards the tower, and found that Neji, Kiba, and Gaara had already arrived.

"About time, you left me with such _wonderful_ company." Kiba commented, and earned himself a glare form Neji, and a stare from Gaara. Kiba shrank away from the two, and hid behind Shikamaru. Neji sighed, and turned to the door.

"Enough. Let's get this over with." He grumbled, wondering how he was going to survive a year-long mission with Kiba. He opened the doors, and walked up to Tsunade's office, the others following.

They knew that neither tow had left the room, judging on the sake bottles scattered around the room. This was definitely not the way they had though they would find their Hokage, then again said Hokage was Tsunade.

"Hokage-sama. We're ready." Neji said, a bit loudly to get her, and Dumbledore's, attention. Said adults stood up, trying to not look like they had not noticed the younger generation in the room.

"Right. Everyone, ready to go?" Dumbledore asked as he got to his feet, and he received a few nods in response.

"Right then. Make sure you're all touching some part of this." He said as he held out a wrapper. The four shinobi exchanged glances, but all reached out to touch some part of the wrapper. After they had all managed to place a finger to the wrapper they felt something give a jerk from behind their navel.

When the landed some people had to stagger to their feet, people like Shikamaru and Kiba. And Kiba didn't think that it was too fair that Neji and Gaara were the only two who had managed to stay upright. It just wasn't fair, but then again Neji did look slightly sick, and Gaara looked unsteady. Still, upon looking around they found a large, dark forest-which they decided would be a fun place to explore-and a huge castle.

Dumbledore just smiled at them, as they got to their feet. After he was sure that they were steady he gestured to the large castle behind himself.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!"

This was going to be an interesting year.


	2. Meetings

Fitting in

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Naruto or 'Harry Potter' isn't that simple to understand?

**Author's Notes:** Okay, for those reading this all I have to say about my lateness is that I've had no time to work on my stories. And apologies for the descriptions and such…I'm going from memory.

Farawayfromu-cookie for you! And I think it would have been funny….if I had been able to think of something. Anyway, here's the next chapter!

"English"

"_Ninja's_"

'_Thinking'_

Chapter Two: Meetings

"Now, follow me." Dumbledore said, as he led the way towards the castle. The four shinobi followed after the wizard, as soon as they were steady. The castle was one thing they all had the same opinion on-it was huge.

"Come along. We need to introduce you to the teachers. But first it's off to my office." He said, as they entered the castle. As they walked down the hall Neji noticed movement out of the corners of his eyes. But every time he turned to see what it was all he saw were pictures. This puzzled him to no end.

"ACH! The stairs move!" Kiba yelped as he looked up, and that got Neji's, and everyone else's, attention. They looked up in amazement.

"Now, don't worry. The stairs are harmless." Dumbledore said, and the shinobi looked to him with expressions of either annoyance or interest. Still, Neji didn't think that explained the movement he continued to see, thinking the movement he saw was not from the stairs. Finally he whirled around, and glared in the direction of one of the pictures. His eyes widened when the figure in the picture _waved_ at him.

"Dumbledore-sama! Why are the pictures moving?" he asked, worriedly, as he followed the wizard. He was glancing over his shoulder now, after falling behind everyone else, looking at the pictures that were definitely moving. Everyone else had started looking at the pictures now, after his outburst.

"Don't worry. Again, they are harmless." The wizard replied, and the four shinobi simply looked over to him in silent question. This was definitely going to be an interesting year…

"This way, this way." Dumbledore said, as Kiba had begun wandering, not looking at the group. Said dog-nin was grabbed by Shikamaru, and dragged back to the group.

"Tch. Kiba, you're being annoying…" the Nara grumbled, as Kiba blinked. And blinked again as if he didn't want to believe his eyes. He had seen something pearly white, and floating.

"G-g-g-GHOST!" he shrieked, and ran back to the group, who had stopped at Kiba's yell. Shikamaru simply walked back, his ears plugged and with a look of annoyance on his face.

"Please tell me their harmless…" Kiba moaned, and Dumbledore blinked.

"They are, for the most part." He replied, and Kiba groaned, and then let fly what was worrying him.

"What do you mean 'most part'? How can they be 'mostly' harmless? You didn't say-" now Kiba sounded worried, if his voice climbing in octaves was any indication of worry. Shikamaru sighed, Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow, and Neji blinked. So…there was something they had to look out for. But ghosts? How does one protect from ghosts? Oh joy…this was definitely shaping up to be a pain…

"There is only one you need worry about, and he only pulls pranks, quite harmless." They had finally come to a stop, and Kiba was looking a bit surer of himself now that he knew that the ghosts were of no threat to him…unless the one mentioned chose to pull a prank on him. Though what they saw confused them. Why had the stopped in front of a large gargoyle? The shinobi stood around the wizard, waiting for him to either do something, or keep moving. Was it possible the old man had gotten lost? But no, the old wizard faced the stone statue, and said something to it quite clearly, and in a different language. The next thing that happened had all four staring.

The stone gargoyle jumped up and to the side, to reveal a winding staircase. Shikamaru mumbled something under his breath, Kiba was too shocked to say anything, Gaara was trying to resist the urge to go over to the statue and poke it, and Neji was trying to figure out how the thing had moved. But when Dumbledore simply stepped onto the staircase, that was moving upwards, the four hurried after him. The stairs led to a room that was most assuredly his. The room had all sorts of items lined along the shelves, and along the walls were more moving pictures. The pictures yelled greetings to the old wizard as he entered the room, greetings in a language they could not understand.

"Dumbledore-sama? How are we going to fit in if we cannot understand the language spoken?" Shikamaru asked, and Dumbledore smiled at him.

"That is a relatively easy problem to fix actually. All that is needed is something that you won't take off, so I can put a charm on it that will allow you to speak and understand our language." Dumbledore responded. When the shinobi looked between themselves. Dumbledore coughed.

"I assume you each have something?" he asked, and got a few stares for his trouble. After a few more moments of silence Shikamaru clicked his tongue against his teeth, before pulling something out of his pocket that made Kiba blush. A choker, one that Kiba had given him the previous year.

"That was a joke you moron…" Kiba could be heard muttering. Shikamaru ignored him, and put the choker down on the wizard's desk. Dumbledore tapped the choker with his wand and handed it back to Shikamaru, who promptly put it on, much to Kiba's chagrin.

"Moron…" the dong-nin grumbled, before pulling out a similar choker and slapped it down on the desk, glaring over at the Nara. Once again the wizard tapped the article, with a small knowing smile, and Kiba snatched it back up and put it on. Then he proceeded to say something that neither Neji nor Gaara could understand. Both of them blinked in confusion, as did Shikamaru and Kiba.

"Ah. If you want to speak your native language you need to concentrate on it." The wizard said, and Kiba sighed.

"_Troublesome…"_ Shikamaru sighed, and Kiba nodded. Neji sighed, before he pulled out the present that his cousin had given him before he had left, and placed the necklace down on the desk. Once again the article was charmed, and Neji picked it back up, and clipped it on-mentally thanking his cousin for the gift.

Then it came to Gaara.

The other three had turned to him, to see what he was going to pull out. Gaara returned the stare, before rifling through his pockets, and pulled out a hitai-ate. His mother's.

He placed it down on the desk, and ignored the stares from his fellow shinobi. As soon as it was charmed he snatched it back up, and stuffed it back into his pocket.

"Well then. Now that we all have the English language at our use, we can go and meet the teachers. Follow me." Dumbledore said, but before he could do anything more a slight trill echoed in the room. The four shinobi looked over to see a bird, a very beautiful scarlet bird, sitting nearby. It trilled again, and the shinobi felt the anxiety that had been plaguing them suddenly fade. The homesickness, and worry, that had begun to settle on them lifted, before it had even gained a hold on them. Kiba stared at the bird openly, Shikamaru looked over at it with mild curiosity, Gaara gave it a look that was completely unreadable, and Neji was also staring at the bird-not as openly as Kiba though. Dumbledore chuckled.

"Ah. That would be a phoenix. His name is Fawks. Now, come along." The wizard said, with a smile, as he got to his feet and led them back to the door, and down the stairs. And once again they were in the halls-with the moving pictures. The idea still creped Kiba out, but he managed to bite his tongue. They began walking again, and Dumbledore looked behind him to see that the shinobi were fidgeting, and looking around.

"If you wish you can go on ahead. The teacher's room is on the bottom floor." He said, and got a few sighs of relief. Surprisingly Shikamaru was the first to take off, vaulting off a nearby railing. Kiba yelled something, before jumping after the Nara, and was followed by his puppy. Neji rolled his eyes, before jumping down after them. Gaara simply stared after them, debating if he wanted to follow them or not. He was from Suna and had never really liked long-jumping. Temari often made fun of the Konoha shinobi, calling them 'monkeys'. So, did he want to join them, or not? After seeing Kiba almost collide with Shikamaru he decided to follow the wizard on the stairs.

"Stupid moving stairs…" Kiba grumbled, after apologizing to Shikamaru. Neji had landed nearby, glad that he had remained in the back. Soon Gaara and the wizard joined them at the bottom, and Dumbledore looked vaguely amused by something. Gaara-had he been anyone else-would have been shaking his head. After sorting themselves out Dumbledore once again took the lead, and began off in the direction of the teacher's lounge. Surprisingly enough the entrance looked normal enough, with a pair of a suit of armor nearby- each holding a sword. But as soon as they approached the armor blocked their way with the swords. Dumbledore-who had already gone past-looked back. He quickly tapped both suits, which turned to face him.

"Let them pass. The teachers need to speak with them." He said. For a few minutes it looked like the armor didn't hear him. But then the swords were lowered, and they were let through. Though the way the suits followed their every movement suggested that they had minds of their own-and didn't like letting them through.

"Well. Here we are." The wizard announced and the shinobi stared at the sight. It was a large room, with people dressed in black robes. All of them.

"Well, these would be the teachers. Teachers, these are the shinobi that have come to help." He said, and a few teachers looked dubious, and a few others made noises of disbelief.

"Aren't they a little…young?" a woman asked, as she stood up. She had her hair up in a tight bun, and piercing grey eyes. She looked like a woman that should not be messed with. Neji was not deterred as easily as Kiba and Shikamaru. Gaara didn't seem to talk much, so Neji decided to take it upon himself to say something.

"Where we come from we are considered adults once we graduate the Academy. We have all graduated." He responded, looking over to the teacher. Then a man stood up. He looked fairly younger than the woman, with black hair and dark eyes. He looked like a person the shinobi did _not_ want to meet in a dark ally unarmed.

"Adult or not, it's about experience. You look a little too young to have any type of experience." The man said, and Kiba growled. He didn't like the tone of voice that man had just taken with them. Neji, Shikamaru, and Gaara ignored the tone, and opted to stay quiet. That turned out to be the better of the choices as Dumbledore came to their defense.

"Minerva, Severus, I think these four are quite capable. Please, you do trust my judgment-do you not.?" The wizard asked, in a mild tone. A mild tone that carried a hidden threat. The other two backed down, Severus grumbling, and Minerva simply looked resigned.

"Now that we have this all sorted out, let's begin the introductions." The wizard said, and both the shinobi and teachers wondered how he could switch topics so quickly.

A/N: Okay, cutting it off here, before It's any later on being up-dated…I feel really bad now, but here it is!


	3. Diagon Alley

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Naruto or 'Harry Potter' isn't that simple to understand

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Naruto or 'Harry Potter' dunderheads!

**A/N:** Um…please don't kill me for up-dating so late…

Darantha-Okay, I will! Thanks!

Xinsert user name here-Thanks! I'll update as soon as I can!

Wolfie5122-Yeah, I really want to see how these four would work together. Thanks

Chromde-Thanks, and I think they are as well.

Animelover-szasha-it will, and thanks

**Summary:** didn't change

"English"

"_Ninja's"_

'_Thinking'_

Chapter Three: Diagon Alley

After the introductions, in which Kiba kept a good distance from Snape, Dumbledore lead the group back to the tower, the one they had started off in.

"_Am I the only one who thinks this is gonna be a pain?"_ Kiba asked, his voice lowered to a hushed whisper. Neji's mouth quirked into a slight smirk, and Shikamaru sighed. Gaara ignored them.

"_Think about it this way, at least Naruto isn't here."_ Neji commented, causing Shikamaru, Gaara, and Kiba to shudder at the thought.

Neji's smirk widened.

As they talked they had to pay attention to what was going on around them, Neji memorizing the path that lead up to Dumbledore's office. He had a feeling that they would be going there often, though he knew that Shikamaru had probably memorized it on the way _to_ the teacher's lounge, and then some. Still he hoped that they wouldn't need to visit the wizard often.

"Here we are, now I have a few things left to explain, and a few other teachers for you to meet. First we have to assign you four classes. And on a side note, one of the students you will have to keep track of has a Time Turner-Yes?" Kiba had raised his hand, and begun waving it around to get the wizard's attention.

"We have classes? What types? What the hell is a Time Turner?" Kiba asked, in rapid succession. His teammates gave him odd looks.

"Yes, you have classes, the types vary from History to using magic, to making potions, and a Time Turner is a device made to allow the wearer to turn back time. The student, Hermione Granger, has been issued one because of her workload. And before you ask you do not get a Time Turner, as the Ministry is loathed to even give one to students. I apologize for the inconvenience, but that's that. Any more questions?" he asked, after answering Kiba's questions leaving some in awe by the fact that he could keep up with Kiba.

"What was with the different colors on that banner?" Shikamaru asked, having been the one to notice the banner in the back of the teacher's lounge, one that showed a lion, eagle, badger, and snake. Dumbledore smiled, and clapped his hands together, before ushering them to seats. Once they were all seated he proceeded to explain.

"That would be the crest of Hogwarts. The four animals on the crest represent one of the founders. Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff, and Rowena Ravenclaw. They are the four houses into which you will be sorted. Now, as I was saying, the classes must be chosen." The wizard said, and then pulled out three schedules, two were identical, and the third-they assumed Hermione's-was a list of classes that couldn't possibly be taken, but they remembered the Time Turner and it made sense.

"Wait. Why are we picking classes, if we don't even know if we'll end up in the same House as the person we are supposed to protect?" Kiba asked, and Dumbledore blinked once, before answering.

"Because you are going to be Sorted into the same House. I have made sure the Sorting Hat understands this. Now, pick out the classes." Dumbledore replied, and the four returned their attention to the schedules.

"Well…I think we should split it so that two take classes with Hermione, and the other two take the classes with Harry and Ron. Neji, Gaara, you should take the classes with the girl." Shikamaru said, looking up and over to the two mentioned. Gaara stared and Neji tilted his head to one side.

"And why would this be?" the Hyuuga asked, and Shikamaru sighed. If this wasn't phrased correctly he was in for major bruising later.

"Well…it's just that you two-" but before Shikamaru could finish Kiba interrupted him.

"Give of this really scary 'Don't come near me if you value your life.' vibe." Kiba finished, and Shikamaru sighed. Neji glared at the dog-nin before sighing. He did have a point…but Gaara shook his head.

"But wasn't our charge this Potter boy?" Gaara asked, and Shikamaru sighed. Now there was a bit of confusion…seeing as how Gaara was right and they had been told to watch over Harry, not his friends. But information that they may need could come from splitting up. Well, it seemed that Shikamaru was the appointed leader seeing as how the three were waiting for an answer.

"Troublesome…fine. We all stick together. Safety in numbers then." Shikamaru finally sighed, and the others nodded, and Dumbledore grinned before taking the schedules back.

"I suppose you don't need these then hmn?" he asked, and Shikamaru nodded.

"Good. Well then here is a list of the things you will need and such. The train will take you to the station where you will meet Professor Lupin. But first you have to meet the grounds keeper and new Professor of Care of Magical Creatures." Dumbledore said, as he stood up, followed by the shinobi.

They followed the man to the grounds, and towards a hut near the forest. The shinobi backed up a pace on instinct when they heard loud barking at the door when Dumbledore knocked. They almost backed up farther when they saw the person who answered it.

The person was extremely tall, as he even dwarfed Dumbledore, and their client was not exactly short. Not to mention the man was also heavy-set, and definitely looked like a giant. Or something close to it…

"'Lo, Headmaster. What are yer doing here?" the man asked, and the shinobi looked at one another. That man's voice definitely fit him perfectly; loud, and booming, without even trying.

"Ah, Hagrid. I'm here to introduce the guards." Dumbledore answered, gesturing to the shinobi in the background, as Kiba stared at Fang.

'_That's one big dog…' _Kiba thought, as he ignored the person who had come out of the hut. He looked up only when Shikamaru elbowed him.

"But…Professor…they can't be! They're kids!" Hagrid exclaimed, and Shikamaru sighed, along with Neji, as Gaara simply stared at the man, and Kiba growled.

"We. Are. Not. KIDS!!" Kiba yelled loudly, finally gotten tired of the term being applied to him. Hagrid and Dumbledore turned to regard the fuming dog-nin, and Shikamaru sighed again.

"Please. We are no kids. We are considered adults by our society. These headbands are proof of that." Neji responded, as Shikamaru tried to keep Kiba from saying something else stupid.

Hagrid looked shocked at Neji's comment.

"Ah, well they have been recommended by the Hokage herself. I trust that they are up to the task." Dumbledore said, and Hagrid nodded, taking it better than the other teachers had.

"Well, sorry 'bout that. I'm Hargrid, the new Professor of Care of Magical Creatures." The man said, and Kiba nodded, seeing as how this person took them being guards a lot better than the others. Not to mention that Fang was saying how nice the man was. Kiba was beginning to like the man, as he did take good care of the animals.

"Would ye like to see the Thestrals?" the man suddenly asked, and the shinobi blinked, as the man addressed them. Dumbledore nodded, and gestured for the group to follow them. They followed Hagrid to a small paddock, partly hidden by trees, and Hagrid walked forwards, the shinobi hanging back as they noticed that Dumbledore had not moved forwards. When Hagrid let out a screeching call, the shinobi moved back a pace, and instinctively grouped together. The call was similar to an angry horse-bird-demon-thing…thought what startled them was when the things appeared. The things had glowing yellow eyes, and dragon-like heads. They were black all over and appeared to be related to horses somehow. They unfurled bat-like wings and snorted at the clustered shinobi, before moving off to Hagrid.

"These are Thestrals. Can you see them?" Hagrid said, and was surprised when all four nodded. Even Dumbledore looked mildly shocked.

"Interesting…"the wizard said, and decided to elaborate when he got odd looks from the shinobi. "Only those who have seen death can see a Thesteral." At this Shikamaru muttered something about 'psychopathic red-heads.' Gaara glared, and Kiba inched closer to Neji as a precaution.

"We have all seen death, and we have dealt death to some. We were trained for such things." Neji said, raising an eyebrow as one of the horse-like things wandered over towards him.

"But…but yer no older than third years!" it seemed that while he could get over the fact that they were the guards he couldn't grasp the fact that they had indeed killed people.

"Tch…we were trained to kill at a young age…and basically anything else that would pay." Shikamaru said, and received an odd look from Hagrid. The large man glanced to Dumbledore, who nodded, and sighed.

"Well then. I'll be seein' you around later." The man said, as Dumbledore ushered the group back to the castle.

--

When they got back to Dumbledore's office the old wizard handed them each a piece of parchment, and money. After explaining the currency he told them whom they were going to meet.

"His name is Remus Lupin. He is the new Professor of Defense Against Dark Arts. He also has a…condition. I'd rather not tell you about. He'll tell you himself." The old wizard said, and the shinobi looked to each other, knowing that the condition was probably pretty personal if the one hiring them didn't want to disclose it.

Still, they had a mission to do, and they rolled the parchment up, and put it away, before nodding. Dumbledore smiled, and lead them off to the train.

--

Neji was staring and he knew it. The…thing in front of them was huge, and belched out smoke thickly, and caused Kiba's eyes to water. He muttered something about its smell, and Akamaru hid his nose in Kiba's jacket. Gaara was not staring, but showed more interest than normal. Shikamaru was trying to figure out how it was made and how it worked. Not that he needed to know that, but it gave him something to do as it came to a halt. Dumbledore waved them on, and they made their way onto the train, looking around the compartments and such, wondering how they were going to find their charge once the train was filled with other students. When the thing started forwards Kiba fell flat on his face, as the others caught themselves on doorframes or stuck themselves to the ground with chakra. Kiba grumbled a few things, as he got back up. They entered the nearest compartment, and settled down for the ride.

--

Kiba yawned, as he stretched his muscles. He had fallen asleep before the ride was even half done. Shikamaru had stared out the window the entire time, as had Gaara. Neji had begun reading a book that he had been given by Dumbledore, who said that one of them should read it to learn more about the school. Since he had nothing better to do he took up that, and looked up once he felt the train coming to a stop. He closed the book, and followed the others out to the platform to meet the person who was waving at them from the platform. He was wearing shabby robes, and had unkempt hair, but other than that he looked fine. They exited the train, Kiba still muttering about lost sleep, and greeted the man.

"Ah, you must be the guards Dumbledore hired. I am Remus Lupin" the man said, and Kiba perked up, and not just because that the man was the first to address them as the guards. He smelled like a wolf.

"_He smells funny"_ he commented, earning strange looks from his teammates. Lupin's smile became confused as Shikamaru grabbed Kiba and pulled him down to talk to him, away from the teacher.

"Ah…please excuse them. They are going out and it seems they are having a bit of an argument." Neji lied, and drew a snort from Gaara. Lupin, if anything, looked more confused as their voices grew louder.

"_Fine…but I still say that his sent has something to do with his condition."_ Kiba grumbled. Shikamaru shook his head, and walked back to the group, followed by Kiba.

"So, we ready to get going?" Lupin asked, trying his best not to be put off by Kiba's muttering and scowling. He was sure he didn't want to understand what he was muttering about.

"Hai…we are ready to go." Shikamaru said, leaving the wizard to wonder what 'Hai' meant. Instead he lead them to the exit, and noticed that the longhaired brunet was staring at it.

"It's a genjutsu. It only looks solid." The boy stated, and Lupin gave him a confused look.

"Eh? Okay, uh…" the wizard seemed to be at a bit of a loss, so Neji prompted him with his name.

"Neji Hyuuga" Neji said, putting his given name first, as he had heard the teachers do when greeting them.

"Right. Neji, that is normally solid…but how did you pick up on that?" the wizard asked, as he waited for the light to turn green. Neji glanced at Shikamaru, who gave a slight shake of his head.

"…a good guess." The brunet responded, taking the shake of the head as a signal that they should not tell him about the bloodline limits until they had more information from him. Lupin gave him an odd look, but didn't press matters as the light turned green, and rushed the shinobi through the wall.

He had the feeling this was going to be a very long day…

--

They made it to the Leaky Cauldron in more or less one piece. The first thing he had to do was explain the concept of a car to them, to make sure they didn't attack one. Before he herded them out back he greeted the innkeeper, and told him he would be back after shopping. With that he lead them to the back, and ignored the looks he got for leading them to a small space, mostly occupied by trash bins. He tapped the brick three to the left of the middle bin, and grinned as he heard a startled curse from Kiba, and a low whistle from Shikamaru. He turned around as the wall turned into an archway, and gestured to what had been revealed.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley." He said, and smiled.

(A/N: Done! flop longer than I had thought it would be but meh…there it is)


	4. Shopping

Wizards and Ninjas Chapter4 First Impressions

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Naruto or 'Harry Potter' dunderheads!

**Summary:** didn't change

**A/N:** rose-of-alabaster – he's a dog person, of course he would pay more attention to the dog. And yes, the teachers were not prepared for that, and the shinobi are definitely not going to take to kindly to anymore 'children' comments. Kiba was only the first to snap.

Chromde – glade you're still interested. I'm hoping people don't lose interest because I'm setting things up is all. And still am…wow, sorry about all the fillers, but it gets interesting after this one – promise

animelover-szasha – heh, thank you. I'm glad you like it

"English"

"_Ninja's"_

'_Thinking'_

Chapter Four: Shopping

Gaara blinked slowly as he saw all the people milling about, as did Neji. Kiba was bursting with energy for some reason, and Shikamaru had to hold onto the dog-nin's coat to keep him from racing off. Lupin looked over to them, and smiled slightly. He had wondered how the guards would react to magic, and all the people, and found it quite interesting that they had kept their cool – excluding Kiba who looked like a Muggle child in a sweet shop – and hadn't shown what they were thinking.

"Follow me. First things first, you need robes." He pointed out, noting that they all stood out quite nicely in their normal attire. Not one was in anything remotely close to robes or Muggle clothes. He made his way towards the robe shop, followed by the guards, and tried to ignore the stares. He stood outside, while the guards were fitted, not wanting to be inside the shop, as he heard a jumble of curses, some from the owner, some from Kiba. He sighed, with relief, once they came out with the robes. Kiba looked thoroughly pissed, and Shikamaru was shaking his head.

'_I don't want to know…'_ Lupin thought, as he ushered them to buy their potion ingredients.

"So, what else is on you…list?" he asked, but before he could finish he had one of the lists shoved under his nose. He blinked, and stared at Shikamaru, and gingerly took the list as Kiba grumbled a few things as he read stuff from the list.

"Rat spleen?! What the hell do we need that for?!" Kiba demanded, as soon as Lupin took the list. He noted, with vague interest, that Kiba was attracting a few stares for waving around the list like a mad man. And his teammates were doing nothing to stop him. Lupin gave a strained smile when he noticed that none of the other three were going to help calm the boy down.

"Er…it's an ingredient that is used…and there we are! Here, go get what you need before they bring the fresher stuff out…" Lupin said, as he noticed that all four had wrinkled their noses in distaste at the smell. He didn't need to give them any more incentive, as Shikamaru snatched his list back, and tore off into the shop, moving faster than Lupin thought they should have been able to. Gaara had dropped the gourd near Lupin's feet, and Akamaru was perched on it, as the owners tore through the shop. They came back holding the ingredients and a cauldron each.

They finished in record time.

"Well…now it's off to buy the books then…" Lupin said, as they came back with the stuff they needed, just as the shopkeeper came back out of the back with a fresh tray of ingredients. Kiba hoisted his puppy up, and placed him back in his jacket to protect his nose from the awful smell. Gaara slung his gourd back onto his back, and followed after Lupin, though they were moving at a faster pace, obviously they all wanted to get away from the horrible smell, even Shikamaru was putting effort into moving faster than normal. Lupin didn't blame them, as he moved off to show them to the bookstore.

As soon as they got there Lupin went to show them in before he noticed that two were missing. He glanced around and found Neji and Gaara staring at the bookshop display window. He leaned over to see what held their interest, and chuckled. It was the cage of 'Monster Book Of Monsters' that they were staring at, and it seemed that they were watching two of the books tear each other apart with a morbid sort of fascination.

"_Those books look like fun."_ Neji commented, as Shikamaru, and Kiba appeared beside them. Lupin stared, as he tried to figure out what the boy had said.

"_Tch. They look like a pain."_ Shikamaru grumbled, before sighing. "And we each need a copy of it." He added, in English, as he remembered seeing it listed. Lupin blinked at how good the guard's memory was. For such a lazy sounding person he sure had a good memory.

"I agree with Neji. They look like fun." Kiba said, also in English, more for Lupin's comfort than anything. He had taken a liking to the man, even though he smelled like wolf. After watching the books tear at each other for a few more moments Lupin managed to get them into the shop.

"How may I help you?" a man asked, as they entered the store. Shikamaru pointed to the cage, and the man paled.

"We need four copies of that book…" and he trailed off as he saw that the man looked like he was going to cry.

"Four? Are you sure?" the man asked, and Neji narrowed his eyes from behind Shikamaru.

"We are sure we need four." He said, and the man gulped and nodded. He walked over to the cage, and they followed behind him.

"O-okay…well watch for escapees." The man said, as he opened the cage. The group jumped back as most of the snapping books charged the open door, and knocked over the employee.

"Oh no! Help catch them, please!" the man wailed, as he tried to grab whatever ones he could get his hands on. Neji had snatched up one, and pitched it into the cage as soon as it bit him. Gaara had his sand swirling around, snatching up the books, and throwing them back in as Kiba proceeded to learn how to tap-dance avoiding the snapping jaws of the books. Shikamaru was trying to help, though he only kicked them over to Gaara and Neji, and tried to keep them away from Kiba.

"_Hey! Isn't there a faster way to do this?" _he asked, as he kicked another one. Neji activated his bloodline, and noted a line of chakra points going down the spines of the books that were flapping around, avoiding Lupin and the employee's spells. He de-activated his bloodline, and nodded, before snatching up one of the books, and running a finger down the length of the spine. It shuddered, and then lay still.

"Stroke the spines." He replied, as he tossed the book back into the cage. His teammates nodded, and began snatching the books up, and copying Neji. Soon they had all the books back in the cage, and the employee had handed them four of the books they had just captured.

"Thank you! My boss would have killed me if they had gotten away! Here, I'll get your books, wait here." He said, as he took Shikamaru's proffered list.

"And where do we go after this?" Neji asked, as he watched the employee dash off.

"Ah. Well, there are a few more supplies you will need, and then there is the wand, and a pet if you chose to take one." Lupin responded, as he began to get the distinct feeling that he was being tested. He wondered if he was doing well in their eyes, and next wondered if he was imagining things. Soon enough the man came back with the stacks off books, and they dumped the stuff into the cauldrons, and paid the man, who waved as they left. Then it was off to gather the rest of the stuff they would need.

"Right, we have everything but the wands…this way." Lupin said, as he lead the way to Ollivander's.

Once inside the shinobi began looking around for the shopkeeper. When the old man appeared out of nowhere all four jumped, even Gaara.

"Hello. I am Ollivander, and this is my shop. Now, how may I help you?" the man asked, and the shinobi looked to the teacher to see what to do.

"Hello Olivander. These are the exchange students, they need wands." He said, and Kiba fought the urge to make a very sarcastic remark. But as he wasn't paying attention he hadn't noticed that he was the only one near the old man.

"Ah, so you are first." The man said, and Kiba jolted, and looked around, as he noticed that his fellow shinobi had backed up, leaving him in front. He glared back at them, and Shikamaru shrugged, and the other two stared.

"Now hold out your wand arm." The elder said, and Kiba gave him a confused look. Lupin chuckled.

"The dominate arm." He supplied, and Kiba nodded, holding out his right arm. The old wizard snapped out a tape measure, and measured Kiba's arm in more ways than he thought possible. After the measurements were done he went into the back, and came back with a few boxes. He handed the first to Kiba, and Kiba took it happily, and waved it over his head, and was quite surprised when a jet of water took a chunk out of the ceiling. He hastily handed it back.

"No, no…not that one. Here, ten inches long, pine, with the core of dragon heartstring." He said, and gave it to the boy, who gave it a less-than-enthusiastic wave after the last disaster. He was pleased when instead of another disaster it let out a smoky figure of a wolf, and it remained long enough to give Kiba an approving look, before dissipating.

"Yes…well that one likes you." And Kiba quickly paid for it, and pocketed it, humming happily. Shikamaru stepped up next, and stuck out his right arm, and Ollivander chuckled, as he took the boy's measurements.

The first wand he tried caused several shelves to explode.

Shikamaru handed it back with a muted 'Troublesome' as he looked at the mess the wand had caused. Ollivander didn't seem to care – much.

"Here, thirteen inches, yew, unicorn hair core. This unicorn was quite the tricky one…" the shopkeeper said, and handed the Nara the wand. Shikamaru waved it, and it issued forth gold sparks.

"Good, good. That one chose you." Once again they paid for the wand, and Shikamaru simply shoved it into his pocket and joined Kiba at the door, waiting for the other two. Next was Neji, who stepped up only with extreme reluctance after seeing the damage the wands did to the shop. After he was handed the first wand he gave it a quick wave, and almost dropped it as it blew fire and the shopkeeper had to duck out of the way.

"No, no…most definitely no." the shopkeeper said, as Neji glanced back to Kiba and Shikamaru both who were laughing at the Hyuuga. A second wand was given to him, and it somehow took out one section of the store, knocking all the wands from the shelves. Now Neji was sure that Fate hated him, as Kiba and Shikamaru had gotten it on the second try. He was on his third.

"Okay…well, that's not it…Try this one. Thirteen inches, rowan, core of a phoenix tail feather. Strange that I have to bring it out." Neji had picked it up, but at the mention of it being strange he held it gingerly, like an exploding tag.

"And what is so strange about it?" Neji asked, eyeing the wand, and wondering what disaster it would cause.

"Nothing…well the core…the feather the wand's core came from belonged to a very angry phoenix." The man began, and then trailed off.

"Oh? So…?" Neji asked, looking the wand over, and then back up to the shopkeeper.

"Well, seeing as how the core is tainted, the magic it produces will be a bit…unusual to say the least." Neji was now holding the thing by the very tips of his fingers and eyeing it as if it were an exploding tag that had begun it's detonation period.

"Well, give it a wave." The shopkeeper said, and Neji didn't miss his teammates getting ready to take cover. He grimaced slightly, and waved it. He was surprised when nothing catastrophic happened. Instead the shop was filled with the song of the phoenix, similar to Fawks song they had heard before they had left to meet the teachers.

"Well, there we go. That one is yours." The man said, and Neji paid for it and instead of pocketing it, he began to fiddle with it as he made his way to the other two. That left Gaara. He stayed where he was and hadn't move a muscle, even at being prompted to hold out his 'wand arm'. After the third time Gaara decided to say something.

"I'm ambidextrous." He replied, and Ollivander sighed.

"Which hand do you use most?" he asked, and Gaara shrugged.

"Both." Was the simple reply, and Kiba was beginning to snicker. Shikamaru decided to help

"Gaara! Catch!" he yelled, tossing one of the chess pieces at him. They hadn't unpacked, as Lupin had decided to get them their things first so they could pack properly. That meant that Shikamaru had his chessboard with him. And with that came chess pieces that made excellent blunt objects to toss. Gaara caught the flying piece with his sand, and glared at the Nara with thinly veiled distaste. He tossed the piece back, and Shikamaru caught it without flinching. He handed it off to Kiba, and shrugged.

"Trying to help. Catch it with your hands next time." The shadow-user said, as Kiba hurled the piece back at the sand-user. This time he caught the piece with his hands.

Both of them.

He held the piece in-between both hands, like he was praying. Kiba twitched. Shikamaru sighed, as did the others in the shop. This was going to be difficult.

After a few more tries the finally found that Gaara was right-handed like the rest of them. The shopkeeper sighed, and pulled out more wands, and gave it to the boy, and watched him wave it. When nothing but a few sparks shot from the tip he nodded.

"Twelve inches, rosewood, core of a rather old dragon's heartstring." He said, as Gaara paid for the wand, and put it away. Ollivander waved to Lupin, and went back to fixing his shop as they left.

"Well, if you want you can get pets…" he said, and saw them nod. So he began leading them off to get them pets.

As soon as they entered the store Neji turned in the direction of the birds, and glared.

He hated cages, of any sort. He made his way towards the birds, looking at them. Most were either sleeping or showed no interest in him. Though as he wandered farther in he jumped slightly as one of the cages rattled as a falcon screeched at him, and tried to reach far enough through the bars to bite him. He blinked and, instead of walking away like a sane person, walked closer to the angry bird that had puffed up and hissed at him. He stared at the falcon, as it continued to hiss at him, and brought up his hand and placed it close to the cage. It immediately bit down on his fingers once they were within reach. He didn't flinch, and let the thing maul his fingers, even though it had drawn blood and a few other customers were looking at him oddly. He ignored them. After a while it stopped ripping at his fingers, and simply held onto them, and glared at him.

"…_that looks painful."_ Kiba commented, as he came up behind the brunet, holding a bag of dog treats for Akamaru. Neji looked back to him, and stared at him until he ran to find Gaara, or Shikamaru. He ran into Gaara first. Neji turned back to the bird, who had let go of his fingers, and was simply glaring at him. The storekeeper, a witch, came over to ask if he wanted a pet, and saw his bloodied fingers.

"Young man, are you okay?" she asked, staring at his fingers, and at the way he simply stared at them. He nodded, and pulled his fingers out of the cage to wrap them in bandages. He turned back to the falcon that was hissing at the witch now, and nodded as if he were confirming something.

"This one. How much?" he asked, turning to the witch, and pointing at the bird. The woman stuttered a few words before telling him how much the bird was.

"But…but she's vicious! I wouldn't…" she trailed off as Neji glared. She sighed, and nodded, before opening the cage. The bird shouldered it open the rest of the way, and screeched at the shinobi, and then cocked it's head when he didn't flinch. Instead he held out his bandaged arm for it. After examining the proffered limb it hopped on, and made it's way to his shoulder. The witch left, shaking her head and muttering something about psychotic birds.

Gaara didn't know why, but he was having an interesting time with a kitten. Yes. A kitten. It was staring back at him with as much defiance as Naruto had, it even had the same bright blue eyes. The others were cowering in the corner, but this one was right up in his face, glaring right back. When Kiba came up, it stared at the dog, and Gaara turned to face the person who had decided to trip him before the mission. Now he had said it was set up for Naruto, but that hadn't lessened his anger, seeing as how he went down in front of people. Kiba was going to suffer. Oh yes he would.

"_Is there something you want?"_ he asked, as Kiba shuddered at the look both him and that evil little hairball was giving him. He shook his head, as Akamaru hid, and walked off. He had a feeling this mission was going to be one of the worst ones yet. Gaara turned back to the staring contest, before the witch asked him if he was going to buy one – mainly to get him to stop scaring the other ones. He nodded, and pointed at the one glaring at him, and paid for it. With that he wandered back to Lupin, the kitten on his shoulder.

Now Kiba was hiding behind Shikamaru, who was looking at the different animals with interest. Though when Kiba hid behind him he sighed, and looked over to the boy, with a simple expression of 'WTF?' written all over his face. Kiba just pointed over to Gaara, and the Nara sighed, before turning back to the animals.

"So…what one do you like?" Kiba asked, as he looked over in the direction the Nara was. Said shinobi shrugged.

"Mah…well, that one." He said, pointing at a rat, that was sleeping in the corner. Kiba gave him an odd look, which the Nara returned, and shrugged.

"Whatever suits you." The dog-nin chirped, before bounding over to the storekeeper to pay for Akamaru's treats. Shikamaru sighed, and tapped the glass lightly, and the rat looked up and stared at him, before laying its head back down. When the witch asked if he was interested in anything he pointed to the one he wanted. He made his way back to Lupin with the rat in one of his pockets, after paying for it.

"All done?" the wizard asked, as he saw the shinobi had collected near him, with various 'pets' and such. When they all nodded he sighed, and began to lead them back to the inn. First day down – thirteen days to go. This was going to be a long two weeks.

(A/N: Hah! Wow this one was longer than normal…waaaay longer…maybe I should have chopped it into different chapters. But I had no idea where to cut off…Of course I'm not trying to placate you with a long chapter to keep you from biting my head off, now why would you think that?)


	5. First Impressions

**Disclaimer:** +singsong+ I don't own ~ now aren't you glad for that?

**Summary:** didn't change

**A/N:** Anyone who can guess where the kitten's name came from gets a virtual cookie!

Don't kill me! I had computer issues…and then college issues…^ ^;; Yeah, so here goes.

Solo-chan – you don't have to worry about that, trust me

Darantha – heh, yeah that was fun to write

Mewmewgoddess – thanks, and I hope this gets up in good time

Chromde – don't worry about the bad pun. ^ ^ and yes, a brave kitten! +gigglesnort+ nice name for one

Lina-Neko – Thanks!

.Weasel – Thank you! And I am continuing, I don't like leaving a story unfinished

Dragoncrazy247 – Yes, an evil kitten. Suits Gaara…+cough+ and thanks

"_Ninja's"_

"English"

'_Thinking'_

/Animals/

Chapter Five: First Impressions

After all was said and done, the shopping left them exhausted. Well, actually it left Lupin exhausted, and he was beginning to wonder if the shinobi tired at all. Kiba was still bouncy, Neji and Gaara looked no worse for wear, and Shikamaru looked like he was just bored. Though Lupin knew that it wasn't over just yet. They needed clothing, normal clothing mind. As soon as they got to the Leaky Cauldron he let Tom lead them to the rooms, and drop their stuff off, before going out for clothing. After that was done – Lupin swearing that he was never doing this again – he was ready to drop. The shinobi had proved to be extremely difficult to get into clothing, as they didn't seem inclined to the different clothes, and some had outright refused to change, leaving Lupin to finally snap at them. That got them to listen, and he had a feeling they were just testing him…again.

"Remus-sensei? We're going to turn in for today." One of them – Neji was it? – said, as Lupin collapsed onto his bed. He flapped a hand in the boy's general direction.

"Good, turn in, go to bed, whatever. Just don't break anything or anyone." He said, remembering the clothing store. That was going to be haunting his nightmares for a bit. He heard the boy chuckle and leave.

'_Dumbledore…you owe me one…'_ the professor thought before falling asleep.

-----------------------------------

"_Hey, Neji! What do you think of the Remus person_?" Kiba asked excitedly. Neji raised an eyebrow at this, and looking around it seemed that the other two had been victim of Kiba's questioning as well. He shrugged slightly, and sat down on his bed near the bird. They were all in his room, and he noticed that all the 'pets' were in there as well.

"_He reminds me of Iruka-sensei."_ He said flatly, thinking of how Iruka had reacted to his class. The poor man…and from what he heard of Naruto and his class…Iruka was definitely someone Lupin reminded him of. Kiba snorted, and sat down on the floor.

"_Shikamaru said that as well. Gaara wouldn't answer, unless it was to threaten to unleash his sand on me…or that damned cat again." _The dog-nin said, and Neji noted the kitten's bloody claws, and scratches on Kiba's face. He sighed, and shook his head. Still, it was time to get down to business.

They were going to bond with the animals.

Kiba had explained the concept to the others, figuring that a few extra pairs of eyes and ears would prove to be valuable, and they agreed. Though he said it would probably take the rest of the day, and a lot of chakra. As he explained it, he had bonded to Akamaru over time, thus the chakra he used had not been in great amounts. Though, he further explained, they would have to shove that amount of chakra through their chosen animal partners in one day, because they couldn't afford to lose more than one. Shikamaru hadn't been happy, and had muttered a few words under his breath, before agreeing.

"_Right. Now Gaara, Shikamaru, and I are going to do this. You are going to see if you can find our charge."_ Neji said, and Kiba groaned.

"_But why?"_ he whined, and Neji glared. Just one of those glares that said it all. Something around the lines of 'You idiot, if I have to explain myself to you I am going to kill you.' type of glare. Kiba hastily exited the room, taking his puppy with him, and ran back to where the entrance to Diagon Ally was. He did not want to see if Neji really would do damage to him.

"_Now then. Let's get started."_ The Hyuuga said, after he was sure Kiba was working on his assignment. The other two nodded, and began to follow the steps Kiba had told them.

-------------------------------------------

"Mwah…_I'm __bored_…" Kiba whined, as he wandered around the streets. He hadn't spotted their charge yet, and he was getting odd looks as he wandered around in his normal clothes. He had been the one that refused to change his clothing style until Remus snapped at him in a tone that reminded him of a teacher. Though said teacher didn't say anything about wearing the clothing in Diagon Ally. He was going to soon learn to never leave Kiba loopholes. After wandering around more he managed to crash into someone, knocking the person to the ground.

"Eh? Oh! _Sorry!_ I mean sorry…Here, let me help." He said, as he bent over to help the boy back to his feet and gather his things. After pulling the bewildered boy back to his feet, with one hand mind, he looked him over. Glasses…messy hair…bright green eyes…

"Ah! You're Harry Potter! Hah! _That wasn't so hard!_ Ah…nice to meet you. I'm Inuz…er…Kiba Inuzuka." Kiba said, all but bouncing in place. He had finally met their charge. Now Neji had no reason to kill him!

Harry was put off by the new person, who had simply hauled him to his feet, and such all in a few seconds, and babbled on about something as soon as he recognized him. And the way he stated his name…like he was used to saying it differently. Still the person was dressed funny, and was acting like a toddler that had gotten its hands on an energy drink. He was debating whether or not he should excuse himself before the person acted any more crazy, but was stopped out of sheer curiosity when said boy looked down to a puppy that was tailing him and told it something in another language. The dog barked, and took off.

"Um…what did you just do?" he asked, and Kiba looked at him funny. Harry didn't know if he wanted to laugh, or feel slightly offended by that look.

"That was Akamaru. He went off to tell my friends where I am." He replied, even as Harry gave him an even more confused look.

"Is…is he an Animagi?" he asked, and Kiba gave him a funny look.

"A what?" he asked, his expression one of complete confusion.

"Animagi. A person that can change into an animal." Harry explained, remembering hearing Professor McGonagall saying something of the sort in one of the earlier years. Kiba snorted.

"Hell no. He can change into a human. Not many animals can do that, ne?" Harry looked like his cousin had offered to be nice to him, no strings attached. A mix between complete surprise, and skepticism. Kiba either chose to ignore the look, or didn't catch it.

"_Geh…food…_Hey! Do you know a good place to eat an' stuff?" Kiba asked, before Harry had a chance to inch away. Said boy groaned, inwardly, and nodded.

"Yeah…follow me." He replied, and began to lead him off to the ice cream shop. He had a feeling this was going to be a very long day indeed.

--------------------------------------------

"_Done!...okay, who can still move?"_ Neji asked, as he flopped over on his bed, the bird landing on his stomach. Gaara raised his hand, but Shikamaru fell over onto the floor, the rat curled up in his pocket. The other two shinobi looked over at him in mild concern, but shrugged it off when they noted he was still breathing. Good enough.

/Brother! Something is on its way here!/ the kitten mewed, as it jumped onto Gaara's head. Green eyes looked up to the feline, before flickering to the door, as the occupants of said room heard something collide with the door. Gaara placed the kitten on the bed, and opened the door, a kunai ready.

He was ambushed by Akamaru, who promptly started barking his message.

/Foundhim! Foundhim! WeFOUNDhim!/ he barked, practically bouncing around the irate red-head.

"_Aioria…please tell me what he said, and tell him to be quiet."_ He said, folding his arms. The kitten promptly went about to making Akamaru be quiet. Meaning that it jumped from Gaara's shoulder to the puppy's back, all claws extended. That, of course, resulted in a mini-war between the two. And the others in the room still had no idea what Akamaru was barking about.

/Now be quiet, and say what you need to slower!/ Gaara heard Aioria snap, as he finally dislodged himself from the dog. Said dog looked quite offended, before sitting down to repeat his message.

/I said 'We. Found. Him' okay? Our charge! We found him!/ and Aioria made a noise that sounded an awful lot like a sigh. The others in the room decided not to comment.

/Brother…Akamaru's pack mate found your charge./ Aioria said, turning to Gaara even as the red-head scooped him up. Gaara then relayed the message to the others in the room.

"Well, you can go. I'm going to lay here, and stare at the ceiling for a bit." Shikamaru commented, as he tapped the nose that was sticking out of his pocket. Trouble, the rat, muttered something and burrowed further into the pocket. Gaara looked over to Neji, who was getting to his feet. Slowly, but he was getting up, even managing to balance the weight of the bird on his shoulder as he did so. It did help that the falcon didn't want to fall off.

"Well, you can stay and guard the rooms. Gaara and I are going to make sure Kiba doesn't say something he shouldn't." Neji said, even as Akamaru pranced around the room waiting for them to get moving.

/Chick…are you sure you are up for walking?/ the bird, Miya, asked, as she felt him almost over-balance.

"_No, I'm not sure. But I am going to."_ Neji responded, and followed after Gaara and Akamaru.

/Flying before the wing has healed leads to problems, chick/ the falcon warned, even as Neji sighed. She was sounding like his mother…

-_------------------------------------------------------_

Harry was sure that the boy was crazy, but a…fun type of crazy. He had more energy than most of the Quiddich team put together! At least after ice cream he did…He vaguely regretted giving the brunet the sugar loaded treat. But what was done was done, and the person was entertaining, even if he did bounce around from language to language once in awhile. He had quite a few jokes to tell, and Harry spent most of the conversation trying to catch his breath.

"Inuzuka…there you are." A cold voice broke into the conversation. Kiba shuddered, and turned around to face the person that voice belonged to. Harry saw a longhaired brunet and behind him was a boy with hair red enough to rival Ron's standing behind the boy.

"G-Gaara, Neji…hello…uh, look who I met!" he said, waving his hand in Harry's direction. Harry, for his part, remained silent as he looked at the two people behind Kiba. Both gave off a slight feeling of 'no nonsense' and reminded him of some of the sterner teachers. He made a mental note to not piss those two off.

"…so you did. I'm surprised he didn't run off." Neji said, tilting his head to one side.

"Hey! He's perfectly fine, he-" Harry began hotly, but was cut off by Neji.

"No need to get angry. I was only teasing him." Neji responded, a slight smirk finding its way to his face. Then Harry turned to the red-head, who had said all of four words. He didn't know why, but that boy scared him.

"Well…I'm Harry Potter…uh, you two are?" Harry asked, nervously flattening his hair. Neji blinked before shaking his head.

"Neji Hyuuga. That's Gaara Subaku." Neji responded, again, as Gaara had shown no interest in introducing himself.

"…We're transfer students. Only one other person, and he felt like going to sleep." Gaara finished, making Harry jump. He had thought that he didn't talk much. It was confirmed that Gaara didn't talk much when Kiba stared at him, and even Neji looked at him askance.

"_Kiba. Remember this is a mission. Don't give more away than you already have, if you have given anything away at all. It seems you are going to be the one to stick close to him, as he seems to have taken a liking to you. Understood?" _Neji asked, and Kiba nodded.

"_Got it! I'll tag along with him and his friends, and try to keep them outta trouble! Rodger that!"_ Kiba smirked, as Neji shook his head. How his cousin and Shino put up with him was beyond him at that point in time.

"Eh…uh, could someone fill me in here?" Harry asked, as he looked between Kiba and the other two.

"Eh? Oh, right. They were just worried about me, I wandered off, and they thought I had gotten into trouble again. But, hey, now everything is fine. They just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something stupid." Kiba said, smiling brightly. In his case it showed off his fangs. Harry made a note to ask about those later.

"…Right. Well, we'll be going back to our rooms, and tell our other classmate that we found you. _Don't do something stupid._ Meet back at the Leaky Cauldron for dinner at least." Neji said, as he turned and walked off, followed by Gaara. Kiba waved at them, mentally groaning.

His part of the mission had just gotten harder.

"Well then…you have interesting classmates…was that one blind?" Harry asked, as son as Gaara and Neji disappeared into the crowds. Kiba laughed.

"Blind? Him!?" and Kiba doubled over, laughing harder at the thought, "Ow…I think I busted a rib…anyway…no he is anything but blind. Don't call him blind, or a girl. The last person who did…I think he finally got outta intensive care by now…" he chuckled at Harry's expression.

"Wow…well thanks for the warning…" he said, thanking the gods that he had kept his thoughts to himself.

"Now…back to this…I still have no idea what you are writing…" Kiba said, pointing at Harry's homework. Harry sighed, wishing Hermione would show up to explain the stuff to the curious person. Until then…he would have to explain his homework to the exchange student.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

By the time the two weeks were almost over, Lupin had somehow managed to gain the respect of the four shinobi. Or at least he thought the term 'sensei' was used in a respectful way.

"Remus-sensei? We've been meaning to ask, but Kiba said you smell like a wolf, and we want to know if this has anything to do with the condition that Dumbledore-san told us that you had." Neji said, as Lupin was getting up. He blinked as he noted that said shinobi was perched on the end of his bed, as was the falcon. He vaguely wondered how he had gotten into the room. Then he almost toppled out of bed as his mind caught up with him, and the question asked.

"Wh-what!? What did he tell you?!" Lupin demanded, scrambling to sit up and face the longhaired brunet. Neji merely blinked, and inclined his head to one side.

"He told us to ask you about it. Kiba just said that you smell like wolf." Neji replied, and Lupin calmed, and got up. Neji swung off the end of the bed.

"Go get the others up…I really don't want to explain myself twice." Lupin said, and Neji nodded, before taking off to the other rooms. As soon as he woke them up, he led them to Lupin's room, where the professor was seated.

"Well? You gonna explain?" Kiba asked, as he dropped to the floor in a seated position. Shikamaru, Neji and Gaara sat down nearby.

"Yes…the reason I smell like wolf…please don't tell anyone else this…" he paused, as the four nodded, "…I'm a werewolf…" he said, and sighed, waiting for the outbursts.

"…That it? That means you're only unsafe during one day of the month, and do they not have a potion to make you safe during that time?" Neji asked. Shikamaru nodded, as he did remember reading about a potion of the kind in one of the textbooks. Lupin, for his part, was stunned. Most people didn't like his kind, even now!

"…you expected hatred?" Gaara asked, startling Lupin out of his thoughts though Gaara continued on, "We have no reason to hate you." He said, and Lupin shook his head.

"Sorry. I'm just used to people hating my kind out of pre-justice." He said. Kiba snorted.

"Well, don't worry about that now. Werewolf or not we don't care." The Inuzuka commented, and Lupin gave the group a shaky smile.

"Thank you. That means a lot to me." He replied, and Kiba grinned.

"On to other topics…Kiba, shouldn't you be leaving?" Shikamaru asked, prodding his friend in the side. Kiba gave him an odd look before Akamaru whined.

"Huh? _SHIT!_ Later, I told our charge that I was going to be meeting him at that ice cream place five minutes ago!" he yelled, as he dashed back to his room, dressed in appropriate clothing, and sped out of the inn. Lupin felt sorry for anyone who got in his way.

"And onto other news…Harry's two friends have arrived today. I suppose you have been told what they look like?" Lupin asked, and the three remaining shinobi nodded.

"Good. Well, that saves me some trouble." Lupin sighed, and stood up. The shinobi copied quickly, and he shooed them out of his room, and began leading the way towards the dining area.

------------------------------------------------------------------

When Kiba returned it was when they were eating dinner, and he had three people following him. His teammates looked up, and Kiba shrugged.

"_What can I say? They like me." _He said, a grin on his face, even when he was faced with Gaara's cold stare. Though it did have Ron and Hermione hiding behind the braver of the four – namely Harry and Kiba, even if Harry looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole and pull it in after him. Kiba was undaunted in his bravery…or stupidity, take your pick, and walked up to the table and sat down, and motioned for the other three to join them.

Harry stared, but sat down next to Kiba, and Ron followed his example, and sat down on the other side of the dog-nin. Hermione sat next to Ron, and fidgeted with her hands as she stared at the group of shinobi.

"Kiba? Who are the other two?" Neji asked, mainly out of politeness, though it made Ron and Hermione jump. Ron babbled something, but was silenced by a look from Gaara. The Weasley swallowed – hard – and went a few shades paler. Hermione went wide-eyed at the way Gaara managed to get the loud-mouth to shut up.

"Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley. Friends of Harry Potter." Kiba said, without much elaboration, and he began eating, without saying anything else. Ron looked around the table, and shrugged.

"I've been at livelier dinners at a funeral…" he muttered under his breath, not aware the shinobi had _very_ good hearing.

"Tch…you know it's too troublesome to tell you off…" the Nara grumbled, and Ron shot him a look, which was deliberately ignored. Neji chuckled, and Gaara pretended that he was more interested in his food than what was going on around him, so maybe no one would bother him.

It worked.

For the most part.

Partially.

It worked to have Hermione start asking him questions.

"So, where are you guys from?" she asked, and Gaara stared at her, hoping his cold stare would shut her up the same way it did Ron. No go.

"I mean you don't look like you're from around here." She continued on gamely, trying to keep her courage from shriveling up like a pond in the Sahara. At high noon. And it was not going well. She sighed when Gaara only stared at her. Thankfully Shikamaru saw her plight, and decided to be nice.

"We're from Japan. Exchange students." He answered simply, and without looking up. Hermione blinked but thanked him. Ron glared, and was tempted to throttle something, most likely a certain spiky-haired brunet.

As Ron was contemplating homicide Hermione realized something.

"Oh! We never got your names! We know Kiba, but who are you three?" she asked, and the three in question looked up, and then over to Kiba. Said Inuzuka shifted a bit uncomfortably.

"Ah…hahahaaaa…Well, that's Shikamaru Nara, Neji Hyuuga, and Gaara Subaku." He said, pointing to each in turn, with his fork, which he was still having issues with and was beginning to wonder how Neji and Shikamaru had gotten working with the new utensils down so fast. Then again they weren't known as geniuses for nothing.

Ron, who was sitting by Kiba and subsequently almost had his eye put out, took Kiba's arm, and lowered it to the table.

"Jeeze mate, I like my eyes." He grumbled, and Kiba gave him a confused look, before going back to trying to work with the dull knife, and fork.

"So…what house do you think you'll be placed in?" Harry asked, trying to start a conversation. The shinobi traded glances, but they didn't have to answer because right then the rest of the Weasley family showed up, and called the wizard trio over to their table. It was only a moments distraction, but when the turned back to introduce Kiba and the others to Mrs Weasley, they were gone.

"Strange…they were right there…" Harry mused, even as Hermione and Ron shook their heads in disbelief. They all had the feeling that that little trick was going to be the least of things once the year got started.

And boy where they ever right.

(A/N: Sorry! I was busy as hell, and just now got time to finish this off. Don't kill me!)


	6. Of Trains and Sorting

**Disclaimer:** +singsong+ I don't own ~ now aren't you glad for that?

**Summary:** didn't change

**A/N:**...my muse got steamrolled by college. Plain and simple, and flat as a pancake. Plus house work sorta finished her off…

Mt749 – thanks and I will

Caguraa – thanks and I'll try to get this up soon

rose-of-alabaster – AHHH!!! [runs] Eh…well, I better be prepared for another attack…shouldn't I?

Chromde – Thanks!

mewmewgodess – Thank you!

kittyore9 – Thanks, and I hope you like this chapter

master-anime-archer – heh…thanks! Glad it makes you laugh, and yes, evil little ball of fur, fangs and claws – yes?

The Giant Daifuku – Sorry about the lateness….

Ereneviana – Thanks!

"_Ninja's"_

"English"

'_Thinking'_

/Animals/

Chapter Six: Of Trains and Sorting

Lupin was woken at the crack of dawn by a loud 'bang!' and someone's shouts of 'I didn't do it!' and wondered what was going on. The voice didn't sound like one of the shinobi, so that must mean…

"Remus-sensei! They're packing! We need to get moving!" now **that** voice he recognized as Kiba. He dismissed any ideas of getting back to sleep, and got out of bed, as Kiba began to bang on the door.

"I got it!" he snapped, pulling of the angry teacher voice even though he was dead tired at the time. He heard a yelp, and then the footfalls of the retreating shinobi – possibly to give his companions the same treatment.

This was proven true when he opened his door, after packing what little he had into his suitcase, and saw the lot of them assemble in front of the door, Kiba bearing scratches from multiple things.

Who knew Neji could be so testy when woken the wrong way?

"They left." Gaara said as soon as Lupin walked over the threshold of his room.

"That's fine. We **are** going to the same place. Now follow me. Back to the car. Quit whining Kiba! It's the fastest way to travel without attracting un-wanted attention!" he snapped, and Kiba closed his mouth.

------------------------------

As soon as they reached the station Kiba hopped out of the car, not caring that he had to scramble over Shikamaru to do so. Said Nara grumbled at him, but didn't raise his voice – deeming it 'too troublesome' to do so, before lugging himself out of the car. Neji managed to get out of said vehicle with more grace than the other two, though he was sure his arm had fallen asleep. Gaara simply got up, out and glared at anyone who even looked like they were going to ask where the tears in his clothing came from, though they knew the culprit (Aioria) was curled up in a miserable ball in his pocket. As far as they were concerned they hated that thing, and Lupin could tell from the covert glance that Kiba threw the car that the dog-nin was not going near one for a long while yet.

He sighed, knowing that the train was going to be worse.

"Alright…you stay here and I'll get a trolly. Yes, the things with wheels that other people with luggage are pushing around Kiba. Don't gawk, it makes you look like a carp." Lupin said, as he walked off. Kiba closed his mouth and looked to the others. Neji looked impressed, Shikamaru as impressed as he could get, and Gaara was watching the man with interest.

"_I think that Master Remus is very quick to adapt…don't you agree?" _ Neji asked, after a few seconds of silence. The others nodded. After more silence ensued the man came back, pushing a trolly in front of him. Without further ado, they piled their things on, and began moving towards the platforms.

They made it through the barrier with little trouble, though Gaara had flat-out refused to take it at a run. Shikamaru had as well, until he noticed that he would be left with Gaara as company.

He was the second one through.

And now they were all assembled near the train, and Kiba whined.

"That thing stinks! Too much smoke…" he said, as Akamaru buried his nose again. Kiba wanted to do the same, but with his puppy in the way he really couldn't do that, as the jacket he was now wearing was not as baggy as his other ones. It irritated him.

"There! See! Told you there were transfers!" A voice cut into Kiba's thoughts, and all four whirled at the noise. I was Ron, pointing excitedly at them. Gaara gave Kiba a 'light' kick in the back of his thigh to get him moving.

"_OUCH!_ Ah…Hey! Harry, Ron, Hermione! What time did you guys wake up?" he called, as he sprinted up to them, leaving the others behind, with Remus, to go and find a place to put their stuff.

"Early…" was all Ron said, as Kiba bounded over. It was a lot better talking to him…he did not have that aura of 'come-near-me-and-I-will-make-spaghetti-of-your-intestines' around him, or the 'I-could-comment-but-I-want-to-go-back-to-sleep' vibe, like his friends. No…his was more 'Some-moron-gave-me-caffeine-and-I-am-sure-my-system-is-having-issues' but they were kind of already used to the twins and their antics.

One more couldn't hurt…right?

"Early? Well, that much has been noted." He snickered, and Ron tossed him a glare, that was ignored. Harry laughed at the look, and Kiba's non-reaction to it. It was fun to watch them. And then the twins came over, followed by the two parents.

"Oh, now Ron-" One started off, only to have the other cut in with:

"Who might-" and once again the other was cut across by the other.

"This person-" Kiba was beginning to feel like a ping-pong ball

"Be?" both finished. Kiba stared, then burst out laughing.

"_Clones! _Ah…I'm Kiba Inuzuka." He replied, grinning madly. Now these two were going to be fun to work with…well they would have been if they had been shinobi. Harry and the other two stared as the twins joined in with Kiba's laughter. Now why did they just get that sinking feeling…?

"Oh…now isn't he a dear. I suppose you are new around here?" Ms. Weasley asked, as she approached behind her sons. Kiba nodded quickly, as the woman gave him a quick look up and down. Kiba noticed that her husband had lead Harry off to talk to him, and it seemed that Harry was none to interested. He was snapped back to the present when the woman hugged him. She let go of him, just as his mind decided to catch up. But she did not seem to notice his confusion, as the train whistle blew, and she went to say her goodbyes to the rest of her family – plus two.

"Fred! George! Leave the boy alone!" another red-head yelled, stalking over to them. He looked to be older than the rest of them, and was scowling at the twins. Said twins snickered.

"On the train, the lot of you! Come on, go!" he continued, hurrying the group onto the train. They split up as soon as they got on, the twins promising to find Kiba later, and the other – Percy – telling him to keep away from the two for his own safety.

"_Hmn…that was interesting…and I think Master Remus is in…__**that**__ direction!" _he muttered to Akamaru, who gave a small yip in conformation. He was walking off, before he felt someone grab his jacket. He came up short, and made a choking noise as the jacket landed on his throat.

"_WHAT!?..._I mean what is it?" he muttered as he turned to face Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Ron being the one with the death grip on his jacket.

"Ah…you see…most of the compartments are filled…do you mind if we follow you?" Hermione asked, and Harry fidgeted slightly.

"Yeah…sure…_this is going to get messy…_" Kiba nodded, and grinned, even though he was sure that Neji was not going to like the idea much. He probably wanted the time to go over any and all ideas of what to do on the mission…but with these three in the compartment…Still, he lead the way to where his teammates were seated.

"Hey! The thing didn't leave without me, and I brought friends!" he called, slamming open the door. The glares he got in return varied from the mild ticked-off-teacher to the you-are-not-going-to-last-five-seconds-more-if-you-don't-shut-up look.

Kiba chose to sit next to Lupin and Shikamaru.

The other three filed in and took the empty spots, after stowing their luggage in the rack. Kiba pulled out a book and began reading, occasionally muttering about things he did not understand. The silence that descended on the group after that was only punctuated by the sound of the train, Kiba's muttering and the turning of the pages of Neji's book. Finally Ron could not take the silence anymore.

"So! You guys are new…right?" when he got no response – aside from a light snore from the fast-asleep Remus – he looked to the other two for help. Hermione shrugged, and Harry yawned.

"Som-someone had better change their cologne…all this flowery scented stuff is making me sleepy…" Harry muttered, before falling asleep, followed by Hermione and then Ron.

Shikamaru pulled open a window, and the shinobi let out a collective breath as the gas floated out the window, and Neji glared at Kiba, as he cleaned up the shards of the gas' container.

"Right…sorry about that…I'll poke Remus-sensei awake." Kiba said, as he went about waking the teacher, in an attempt to avoid the other brunet's wrath.

"Yes, well, we have a few minutes for planning before the gas wears off. Tch…we should hurry, before it gets troublesome." Shikamaru muttered, as their partnered animals were shaken awake. They would need to hear this as well, as well as Lupin.

"I'm up. Stop poking." Said teacher muttered, as he sat up straighter.

"Yes…well we need to figure out what we are going to do…someone needs to keep an eye on Harry's group…but now we need to factor in the twins…they are not bad, but they act like…like…well and older version of Naruto. He's always an unpredictable factor, and I have a feeling the twins are going to be the same. They need to be watched or they may end up getting us or Harry into trouble before the year is out. Kiba, you stick with Harry. Now…who watches the twins?" Neji said, keeping his voice low. Kiba nodded at the order, and promptly fell over backwards in his chair – feigning sleep. He had heard his part, so now it was back to acting.

"Not me…to troublesome as is. They act too much like him, and dealing with one is bad enough." Shikamaru muttered. Neji sighed, and looked to Gaara, who shook his head.

"…your idea. You watch them." He said, before going back to staring out the window. Neji put his face into his hands.

"Well…if you need help I could try…" Remus offered, and Neji shook his head.

"No…no. I got it, I'll watch the twins." He sighed, and settled back into the chair, and the teacher shrugged, and went back to sleep. He had a feeling he was going to need it. Neji flipped his book open just in time to hear the three wake back up.

"Well…that was odd…" Hermione mused, as Harry nodded, while yawning. Ron stretched and yawned as he woke back up.

"Odd…but the nap felt good." He commented, drawing a glare from the curly-haired brunet. He grinned sheepishly and shrugged. Kiba sat up again, and stretched.

"Ah…well now. Does that normally happen?" he asked cheerfully. The other three gave him an odd look, though Ron shook his head.

"Nope…we mostly stay awake for the entire trip." Ron said, and Kiba nodded.

"Well…we also normally don't get up that early." Harry put in. Kiba chuckled. It was true…and had Harry not put that out there himself he would have done so just to throw them off a bit.

"So…is there anyone we should be on the look out for?" Kiba asked, and Ron went to say something but as soon as Kiba finished speaking the door was opened by Harry's – and Ron and Hermione's – least favorite three. Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle.

The shinobi took one look at the three, and took a very sever disliking to them almost immediately. It wasn't their looks that set them off, it was the posture, and it either screamed 'Here-I-am-look-at-how-much-better-I-am-than-you' or 'I-have-nothing-going-on-upstairs' and the shinobi detested those characteristic traits in anyone. Mainly because either one could get them, their entire cell, or both, into huge trouble and very fast.

"Well, look who it is," the blond drawled, and the shinobi took an even further dislike to him, "Potty and the Weasel" and the two giants chuckled like the trolls they resembled.

"I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer Weasley, did your mother die of shock?" he asked, and then halted mid-way through his taunting when he caught sight of the four transfers.

"Who are they?" he asked, pointing at them, and Kiba got to his feet.

"Wouldn't it be more polite to ask the people you are referring to? Or did your mother forget to teach you manners, along with how to bathe?" Kiba asked, folding his arms.

"What?! Don't talk about my family like that!" Malfoy blustered, going red in the face at the insult. Kiba smirked at him, and glanced to the side as Neji and Shikamaru got to their feet as well. Gaara remained seated, but his scornful gaze could still be felt.

"Then don't talk about someone else family in such a way." Shikamaru drawled, hands stuffed into his robe pockets, looking thoroughly uninterested in the argument.

"Looks like he can dish it out, but can't take it, hmn?" Neji snipped, with a smirk that had been normally found on his face before the Chunnin Exams.

"Seems that way." Shikamaru replied, and Crabbe and Goyle looked ready to kill the three, as did Malfoy.

"Shut up you blind idiot!" Malfoy snapped at Neji not being able to find something that lent itself to insult immediately on the other two. Neji raised an eyebrow at the comment, even as Shikamaru and Kiba backed up a few paces – away from their teammate.

"Blind? If I am blind then you must have been born without eyes. I can see past the bridge of my nose unlike someone standing in front of me. Compared to the people you insult you are blind in both senses of the word. Now do yourself a favor and leave before you make an even bigger fool of yourself." Neji replied haughtily, as he somehow managed to look threatening, even to the two golems of bodyguards Malfoy had. Though the shinobi knew it had to do with the sudden flood of killing intent that was coming off of him, even while the wizards didn't – they just knew he was suddenly very scary.

"Leave Malfoy. Don't want to wake the new teacher do you?" Harry asked, jabbing a thumb in Lupin's direction, which was the last straw for the Slytherin, and he turned on heel and left, followed by his two goons.

As soon as they were gone, the ones who had been standing dropped back down into their seats, and resumed doing whatever they had been doing before Draco had barged in.

-------------------------------------

The rest of the train ride was uneventful…aside from one event. It happened when the train was almost at Hogwarts.

"Uh…is the train supposed to stop here?" Kiba asked, as the train ground to a halt. The rain as pouring, and they could not see too much of the landscape, but from the confused babble outside the compartment they had a feeling that it really never had done such a thing before. That was never a good sign…The shinobi had their hands under their robes, and clutching a kunai.

Then the lights went out, causing a bit of a panic in the train compartments.

"Be quiet and sit down!" Neji ordered, and the three Hogwarts students dropped back into their seats in surprise at the force in his tone. They heard him, and the other three getting carefully to their feet, hands still under their robes.

"What are you guys – ?" Ron began to ask, but was shushed by one of them.

"Quiet. Our…school, has taught us how to handle surprises better than you." The voice, Kiba's, replied in a hushed growl of some sort.

And that was when the doors slid open.

The thing that had opened the door stood in the doorway. It was cloaked, and towered to the ceiling, the body itself was lost in the folds of the cloak itself. But Harry and Kiba looked down to see something that almost made them want to lose their lunch. A hand could be seen, not covered by the cloak. It was grayish, and scabbed, and looked like it had been left underwater for too long…and had been dead for the time it had been submerged.

And then the hand was gone. But then the thing that was under the cloak drew a long, slow, rattling breath. It sounded as if it was taking in more than just air from the area around it. All the animals in the compartment bristled, and hissed or growled. Even Trouble had poked his head out and was chattering loudly at the figure. Only Scabbers had retreated, squeaking pathetically as it tried to burrow farther into Ron's pocket.

The figure paid no heed to the animals' angry noise, and simply turned its attention to the people of the compartment, and at once they all began feeling cold, and cheerless, like they were stuck in a world without light or happiness.

Neji was the first to feel its effects, as he heard something that sounded like rushing water, and suddenly he found himself hearing his mother's wailing, and his own broken weeping. He swayed on his feet, before collapsing into a heap on the floor.

Shikamaru froze, dimly aware of the others shaking, or whimpering in fear. He had an idea of why, because if it was doing the same thing to him as it was to the others, then their worst memories were surfacing.

And shinobi had plenty of those.

His seemed to revolve around being told that he was worthless, too lazy to get anything done, and then…then _that_ mission. More like debacle with the way it had gone. Neji and Choji lying in the I.C.U. with so little chance of survival that even together it was less than fifty…the look in Kiba's eyes, suddenly without their normal fire and laughter…and Naruto…Naruto was still not the same. All his fault. His fault…he had failed them, everyone. He was aware of Neji collapsing, and Harry slumping out of his seat, but he didn't move towards them just yet.

"Back away!" he snapped, mustering more energy than he normally cared to, and whipped the kunai out and made a swipe at the figure.

Or he would have had someone not restrained him from even getting the kunai out of his robe.

It was Remus Lupin.

"Go away! None of us hide Sirius Black under our cloaks! Now go!" but when the thing didn't move he took out his wand, muttered something under his breath, and a silver shape launched itself at the figure, and it turned and fled.

"Is everyone alright?" Lupin asked, as he lit the compartment up with the light from his wand. He then shook his head when he saw what that creature had done to the teens in the compartment with him.

Kiba was on his rear and shaking but had dragged the unconscious Neji into his lap, Ron was pale and shaking but had knelt to try and wake Harry – who had fallen from his seat in a faint, while Hermione was curled up in a ball in her seat. Gaara had his head clutched in his hands, muttering in his native tongue under his breath, while sand swirled around him. And Lupin already knew Shikamaru was not taking too well to that experience, as he had almost resorted to lashing out at it with a weapon rather than a wand – which they had been told _not _to do.

But that was all he had time to think on before the train started again, jolting the compartment, and causing a few to almost lose their balance, even as the lights flickered back on. The jolt also served to wake up the two unconscious passengers. Neji was the first to sit up, rubbing his head.

"_Wha-? Ugh, those things…what where they?"_ he asked, as he looked around.

"Pardon?" Lupin asked, still trying to pick up enough Japanese to understand them. Before the brunet could respond he was distracted by Miya landing on his shoulder and chirping and rubbing her head under his chin in distress.

/I'm sorry…I was no help when you needed it…I'm sorry…/ she chirred and he stroked her head to calm her. Lupin sighed, and turned to the others for help.

"He wanted to know what those things were…as a matter of fact so do I, and I think almost everyone else in this compartment too." Kiba said, rubbing his legs to get the feeling back into them. The werewolf glanced around and sighed as he noted that he had seven pairs of eyes on him, as Harry had also awoken and had heard from Ron what had happened.

"They are called Dementors. Here, this usually helps." He said as he handed them a slab of chocolate to share, as he turned to leave.

"Waitaminute! That doesn't answer our questions! And where are you going?" Ron exclaimed as he jumped up –startling the hair-triggered shinobi into almost taking their weapons out.

"I need to have a word with the conductor. I'll explain more later. And I suggest the rest of you change into your robes, as we are getting close." He said as he walked off. The wizards then noticed that the exchange students were already in their robes, and looking quite uncomfortable in them mind, and Neji had tied a strip of black black cloth across his forehead. As a matter of fact they hadn't seen him without something covering that area…not that they were going to ask – at that time.

Kiba sighed, sniffed the chocolate, and then broke it into pieces for the compartment.

"…what happened?" Harry asked, as he took the chocolate from Kiba, who was only half-listening as Akamaru whined to him about how he _did not_ like that thing.

"Mn…well, when that Dementor showed up it got really cold, and made everyone in here feel awful, before Remus-sensei chased it out. Don't know how, but he did…" Kiba answered, after wolfing down his piece of chocolate.

"Cold and weird…like I'd never be cheerful again…" Ron added in a subdued voice, rubbing his arms. Though as he looked around Harry noticed something.

"Did anyone else faint?" he asked, as he had seen that everyone else was sitting up. And that's when a few people glanced over to Neji, who refused to acknowledge the stares at all. He still had his piece of chocolate in his hand, even though most had already eaten their share…he was busy pretending that the floor was the most interesting thing on the face of the earth.

"…I really don't like those things…" was the quiet response, as he continued to stare at the floor. He had heard his mother…right before she had gone off to- he shook his head forcefully to get rid of those thoughts, making the others stare at him in confusion…until Kiba stood up, pulling him up with him, and growled.

"Alright then! We know who the other person was, okay? Stop staring and get your freakin' robes on _before _we get there!" Kiba snapped, jarring the wizards back to reality. As they scrambled to get their robes on Kiba sighed, as Shikamaru dropped back down into his chair. Neji yanked his arm from Kiba's grip, and dropped into a chair as well.

"…_you did not have to do that. I know how to stand up for myself."_ Neji said, and Kiba shrugged. He knew Neji was fully capable…when he wasn't traumatized by some memory horrible enough to make him pass out. He was just surprised that Gaara was still up…then again it was probably for the better that he was or things would have gotten way out of hand, to say the least.

They made it to the castle in one piece. More or less…mostly less but that's beside the point. Turns out Gaara was not inclined to boats, meaning he got seasick even on still water. Standing on it fine…sailing over it in a boat? Not so good. He spent his trip across the lake with his head between his knees and cursing the Hokage to the deepest pits of hell. And Aioria was clinging to his back, and dug his claws in every time the boat so much as swayed an inch to either side.

But moving on they made it across with nothing going too horribly wrong, and walked up the steps, following the crowd of first-years.

In the Hall though, the three trouble magnets were talking over a few things as they waited for the Sorting to begin. First off being the weird way the exchange students acted.

"Dunno about you mate, but I don't think they are very friendly…that white-eyed boy scared those two brutes…and what is with the red-head?! I mean-" Ron rambled on, before Hermione interrupted him.

"Ron! Honestly…you need to be quieter…and show more tact than the current level you are using." Hermione huffed, and crossed her arms – scowling over at the red-haired wizard.

"But he's right…even though Kiba seems to be a alright fellow, but he acted oddly before the Dementor appeared." Harry pointed out logically. Hermoine glared for a brief second, before sighing.

"True…and there have not been any records of exchange students ever in the entire history of Hogwarts. It would have been mentioned in _Hogwarts: A History_ if there had been. It does seem rather suspicious now…" the curly haired brunette commented thoughtfully. But before they could go any further than that the Sorting had begun.

"_Stupid mission, stupid mission, stupid year long pain in the-"_ Kiba griped, as he paced the hall, as he and his teammates waited to be introduced and Sorted. Neji though had had quite enough of Kiba's constant muttering.

"_Inuzuka!" _he snapped, and gave him the trademarked glare that most Hyuuga were know for when angry. Even Hinata had pulled it off once, scaring both of her cellmates into submission. They had been sure to be extra careful around her during that time of month ever since.

"…_stupid Hyuuga…"_ Kiba grumbled, as Neji turned back to the door.

"_I heard that."_ Neji snapped, without turning around. Kiba grumbled and finally lapsed into silence.

/Chick…you need to be nicer to your flock. They will be more inclined to help if they like you/ Miya admonished, from her perch on his shoulder. Neji sighed, but did not reply.

/Brother? Are we going in yet? I'm hungry. But the bird looks like it could eat me/ Aioria mewed, as he stared at the door, tail twitching in impatience. He would occasionally glance back to Miya, who puffed up, making Neji look over to her in concern.

/Try it fuzz ball and you will end up as dinner/ she threatened, and Neji gave her a gentle rap on the beak for being a hypocrite. She just continued to glare at the kitten, even as Gaara picked him up and deposited him into the pocket of his robe. And then they heard themselves being called out to the Hall.

"Hyuuga, Neji!" McGonagall's voice rang out, leaving Neji to walk up to the stool, cursing alphabetical order mentally, and somehow managing to ignore the whispers that came with his entrance. Already he could pick out words and phrases like 'blind' 'that a girl or guy?' and 'what a weird name'. Now the last one caught him, as he was already use to the other two by now. But his name being weird? His clan was the oldest in Konoha! They made the better fighters, and better scouts, and they considered his clan name weird!? Idiot wizards…he sat down on the stool fuming slightly and dropped the tattered hat onto his head, the brim blocking his view of the Hall.

'_Now…what is this? Don't be so mad at them, they are only children who have never been outside of England. Of course your name is a bit odd to them.'_ A voice said in his mind. He didn't jump, but he did mentally growl back at the voice. He guessed it was the hat.

'_Just get this over with, will you? We both know what Dumbledore said, so go on already!'_ Neji grumbled, but the hat was not so inclined to do so just then.

'_Aw…I want to take a look around first! Can I? Please?'_ it almost begged, making Neji roll his eyes.

'_If it will make you get this over with then fine! Nothing personal or classified!'_ he snapped, as he shifted a bit.

'_Fine, fine, fine…hmn…well now…you are quite the stubborn one…and vengeful…but I see that was set straight, as one big misunderstanding…'_ the Sorting Hat said, as it began to go through Neji's memories. Of course Neji was not liking the topic it had decided to bring up.

'_What memories did you just go into now hat?'_ he asked darkly, a hint of anger in his tone.

'_Nothing! Ah…I would have said Slytherin at first because of your actions…but it seems you have had quite the change of heart. And you have plenty of courage as well…taking on a man two levels above your own by yourself! Quite the feat…even if you did almost die from it. But I guess you would need courage to continue after both of-'_ the hat went on, before Neji growled again.

'_I'm warning you…'_ now his tone was angry, and the hat was quick to pick up on the fact that it was pushing the limit of this person's patience.

'_Right then! Courage, loyalty and I would have sorted you in this house even if not instructed to do so, you belong in _Gryffindor!" the last part was said aloud, and Neji got back to his feet, snatched the hat off , and had to check himself before he flung the thing away from his person. He heard the cheering of the Gryffindor table as he made his way over there to claim a seat for himself.

"Inuzuka, Kiba!" once again another name was called, and Kiba bounded up to the stool, and dropped down into it without much preamble. He raised quite a bit of chatter as many of the closer students could see Akamaru's head peeking out from under his robes. He heard quite a bit of the female population go 'Aw~! How cute!' He simply grinned wider at this.

'_Well now! Aren't you a change of pace!'_ the hat exclaimed and Kiba was almost bouncing in place as he pulled said hat on.

'_Well you did just go over Neji, so I guess I would be! So, I'm going to be sorted into Gryffindor now?'_

'_Well...first can I take a peek at your mind? I'm curious.'_ The hat asked, and Kiba stopped himself from nodding, and simply replied mentally.

'_Sure!'_ he said, and waited for the hat to continue on.

'_Really such a change of pace…hmn…happy home life…nothing too bad…very loyal to your friends…'_ it muttered, and Kiba broke into its thought process after it mentioned his friends.

'_Of course! Any shinobi is! You never leave a comrade!'_ he said, and was a bit confused when the hat chuckled.

'_Very enthusiastic about that point too…oh…that's something alright. Must have taken quite a bit of courage to stab yourself.'_ It went on, coming to the most recent memory, and Kiba almost immediately quieted.

'…_I wasn't going to lose and let him catch up to the others…'_ he replied softly but firmly. The hat was quiet for a few seconds, before it made up its mind.

'_Well then…all in all I think you would have been great for this house even without being told to sort you into it in the first place. Loyal and courageous, you belong in _Gryffindor!" as before the last part was said aloud, and the Gryffindors were quite loud as they had now gotten two of the four exchange students. Kiba put the hat back down on the stool and took a seat across from Neji. He smiled wolfishly at the twins, who grinned right back, and then turned their attention back to the two left in time to hear the third exchange student announced.

"Nara, Shikamaru!" and with that Shikamaru meandered his way up to the stool and simply dropped into place. He was greeted with a few mummers of 'how did he get in here?' and 'he won't survive Potions' which made him sigh, inwardly of course. Too troublesome to do so aloud.

'_Hmn…now you are unique. Mind if I poke around a bit before sorting you?'_

'_Troublesome hat…fine'_

'_Troublesome? That does seem to be your favorite word…even though you are a genius. Regardless of this…you are very loyal to friends…and courage. You have that too. You would have been good in Ravenclaw…but with your courage…hmn…stuck between the two.' _The hat paused, making Shikamaru snort.

'_You and I both know where I am going to be sorted to.'_ He muttered, and the hat sighed.

'_Yes yes…just saying if I didn't have to…'_ it said, sounding slightly miffed.

'_Tch…fine, fine…do you mind wrapping this up?'_ the Nara grumbled, finding talking to the hat more tedious than talking to Ino.

'_Sure. While I may have placed you into Ravenclaw if I had my way you are going to be sorted into_ Gryffindor!" the hat called, and Shikamaru dropped the hat onto the stool and walked over to take a seat by Kiba, ignoring the cheers of the Gryffindors, and dropped his head onto his folded arms.

"Sabuka, Gaara!" the last name was called, and Gaara walked up to the stool in dead silence. No comments, no snide remarks, and definitely no whispering of any sort. Not even the kitten on his shoulder induced any sound from the crowded hall.

'_Well now…aren't you an interesting person…'_ the hat muttered, as it encountered a mental barrier right from the start of the Sorting. All the others had not been able to guard their minds…but he did it as if it was a normal thing.

'_Just get this over with.'_ Gaara grumbled, not at all pleased with the situation.

'_Demanding…well I'm guessing since you decided to guard your memories that you don't want me to look.'_ The hat said cheerfully, making Gaara snarl at it.

'_That's correct. My mind is mine, and I do not want some hat looking around. Now get this over with already.'_ He said, biting out his words, and trying to keep his temper.

'_Touchy…but is it your mind…or HIS that you hide?' _the hat asked, as it picked up the second mind within the boy's mind. Gaara went silent from shock for a few seconds before snapping.

'_OUT!!!' _he yelled, making the hat 'eep' and retreat.

'_Ouch! Fine, fine…well you know the drill by now you are off to _Gryffindor!" the hat yelled, glad to get away from Gaara after that outburst. Gaara marched over to the mentioned table, and dropped into a seat beside Neji. With the murderous aura surrounding him even Neji inched away from him, afraid of becoming victim to his anger. While they knew he had that under control….it didn't help that he was clenching his fists to the point of drawing blood. And would have if his sand didn't also protect him from himself.

But the other Gryffindors ignored this – they had gotten all four exchange students! But to a certain three this just raised their suspicions.

(A/N: +slaps chapter up+…I'm so sorry about the delay…+crawls away to work on the other stories+)


	7. Starting Classes

**Summary:** I think the first chapter covers it.

**Disclaimer:** If I owned either I would not be worrying about money.

**A/N: **…please don't kill me?

dragons chaotic – Here it is! ^ ^;;

Ivy of Midnight – Sorry! And I don't think the trio is that stupid. Maybe Ron at times but Hermione? But yes, feel sorry for Kiba…he really should have said no.

Kari Suttle – Don't worry, the birdie does things a bit differently…Malfoy is gonna find that out in chapter 8. And I just knew that the staircase thing was too close, but I figured they'd want to do something of the sort before being stuck acting as civilians for a year.

Chimeralchy – does this count? And I know…+bangs head+

Sunao Kinokiita-tenshi – Thanks!

XspriteyX – just wait 'till Malfoy begins making a true ass of himself. Then you really will like the animals.

Brazilia H – I'll think about that…

Ninja2k – Thanks!

MissOrange8587 – sorry for the wait…

Flower Kid is a Leprechaun – …well crap. I didn't know that…thanks for pointing that out. I'll have to go fix that soon.

Chromde – thanks! I had fun with that part.

kittyore9 – oops?

"_Ninja's"_

"English"

'_Thinking'_

/Animals/

Chapter Seven: Starting Classes

The next day schedules were handed out, and Hermione, Ron, and Harry were comparing schedules…well Harry and Ron were comparing theirs while pestering Hermione about how she planned to get to all her classes with most of them landing on the same time slot. And Hermione didn't seem to want to answer either boy honestly, if at all.

"Blimey Hermione! How do you plan to be in three places at once!" Ron demanded quite loudly.

"Can you be any louder Ronald? The Slytherins may not have heard you." Hermione snapped, sounding more than a little harassed. Not that the shinobi could blame her. It was their first day, and it had been quite a shock with all the movement and babbling. They had never been so glad for that translation spell than now.

A headache from listening to a crowd in a language they could understand and one from one they couldn't were two _very_ different things.

"But really, Hermione, how are you going to manage it?" Harry asked, also peering over her shoulder to look at her schedule. She growled and stuffed it into her bag.

"I can. There is a way, now stop pestering me!" she snapped once again, glaring the two boys into submission.

"_Not possible unless that device she was given makes clones."_ Kiba snickered into his plate of food.

"_Remind me to never let Naruto near it if it does. One original of him is bad enough."_ Neji deadpanned, making the others either choked or chuckled at his comment. Though they did not have much time to recover from Neji's dry sense of humor before more laughter rang out from across the Hall.

Now shinobi were taught how to detach themselves from their emotions…but with what Malfloy was pulling on the other end of the Great Hall even had _Shikamaru_ repeating the same rule over, and over in his head to keep from breaking it. As it was he was the only one to _not_ do something that would later come back to haunt them.

Kiba had bent the fork he had been holding in half, while growling lowly in his throat, Gaara was giving off an intense killing aura and the sand that followed him like a loyal pet was swirling under the table – and making most of the Gryffindors gag from the smell of blood, while Neji had simply gone rigid with an aura almost to match Gaara's, and was glaring at the wall with such malice that it was a wonder it didn't disintegrate, and even then the cracking of wood could be heard as he gripped the bench.

Now…what was Malfloy doing that made them so angry?

He was making fun of Neji and Harry for fainting when the dementor had entered their compartment. Needless to say they were not taking too kindly to having their charge or teammate made fun of.

"_Just calm down everyone…we are not supposed to blow our cover on the first day. Kiba, fix the fork. Gaara, your sand is making the civilians gag. Neji, the wall doesn't need new windows in it."_ Shikamaru commented, after he was reasonably sure that he was not going to say or do something just as rash as the others.

"Harry…don't let it bother you. Just wait 'till after the Quidditch game, and then we'll see who's laughing." Fred commented, as he eyed Harry's death grip on his fork. Hermione and Ron nodded in sync, in an effort to calm the Boy-Who-Lived down. And then a very disgusting smell reached their noses, and the five of them covered their noses – or mouths – with the rest of the table, and some of the Ravenclaw table as well.

Then they heard Shikamaru talking to his friends, and within seconds the smell was gone. They also caught Kiba muttering something as he fiddled with his fork, saying something that sounded suspiciously like 'damned soft metals' and they were sure that the cold chill in the room had come from the two quiet exchange students, not that they could prove it now since the chill was gone. But it did raise the suspicions of the five.

Yes, five.

Fred and George were not stupid, and they were not going to be left out of this little 'adventure' oh no…not this time. They had noted a few things off already with the four exchange 'students' one of course was in the form of the animals they kept with them. Kiba had a puppy tucked into the front of his robes, Neji had a falcon perched on his shoulder, there was something that looked suspiciously like a rat's nose sticking out of Shikamaru's pocket, and Gaara's kitten was sitting nearby the red-head's plate. This was an unusual assortment of animals, not to mention that they were kept with their owners rather than in the dormitories, like all other animals.

"We'd better go, look, Divination's at the top of the North Tower. It'll take us ten minutes to get there…" Ron commented, breaking the silence, and the twin's thoughts.

"Right. Well come on. Lead the way, we don't know where we are going." Neji said, as he stood up, shouldering his bag, as his actions were copied by the other three, and Harry's group.

"Ah…er…okay, follow us then." Harry said, as they walked off. He had wanted to discuss his suspicions, and Ron and Hermione knew that, but that was not possible when the people who had raised such suspicions were right behind them…and talking to each other in a different language. That only made them more paranoid.

"_Well…it looks like we all need to work on controlling our emotions." _Neji commented, as they followed behind Harry, Ron and Hermione. He didn't know what the Hokage was thinking in sending them out on another mission for so long so shortly after the failed attempt to retrieve Sasuke. He knew they were pressed for money and able-bodied shinobi, but this was pushing it. Hell, Neji had taken the bandages off for the final time only a few days before the mission had begun!

"…_yeah."_ Shikamaru sighed, thinking about where his sudden anger had come from. Maybe they had not all recovered from the failed mission as well as they had originally thought…if this was so then they were likely to be more wired, emotional, and maybe just a bit more psychotic than a normal shinobi – though that is not saying much – until they fully recovered.

"…_I still want to gut him."_ And Shikamaru was proven correct as Kiba grumbled that comment under his breath.

"_Kiba…you need to calm down now."_ Neji said, his tone completely level. Kiba gawked at him, before yelling.

"_What! Hey that idiot was making fun of you! You should be angrier than me!"_ he snapped, pointing at the Hyuuga's back.

"_We are currently scaring our charge." _Gaara cut in, and Kiba turned to him instead.

"_Thank you Gaara for that wonderful observation. I think we can all see that."_ He grumbled, and Gaara only blinked and stared at him in confusion.

"_Then why do you persist in this behavior?" _He asked, and Kiba snorted.

"_Like you have room to talk!" _he shot back, making Gaara narrow his eyes. He did not like to be reminded of what he had done earlier in his life.

"_Inuzuka…shut your mouth before you say something that leads you to your grave."_ He growled, making the dog-nin take a few steps away from him, and Akamaru whimpered, fearing that his pack-mate was soon going to end up dead.

"_Ah…hahaha…oh look moving painting!"_ Kiba pointed at a large painting that held a bare stretch of grass and a pony. Soon the pony was joined by a squat, clanking knight. What was more amusing was when the picture-knight spotted them it began brandishing its sword around, and hopping around like some demented monkey. Though after a particularly wild swing it over-balanced and fell over. This received a few snickers from their group. Harry shot them a look, and went back to trying to talk to the overly excitable knight. Their attention was brought to the conversation by a shout.

"A quest! Follow me gallant lords and fair ladies!" and then the knight was off, running from portrait to portrait and scaring – or annoying in a monk's case – the occupants as he raced through their pictures. And they did what anything used to such things would do – they chased after it, following behind Harry's group.

By the time they reached the tower Harry's group was out of breath, and leaning on the wall for support.

"Blimey…we're here…but where's the classroom?" Ron asked, as he looked around, also noting that the rest of the class was there, looking as confused as they did. What Harry noticed when he looked around was something else.

The transfers were breathing normally, not winded in the slightest. He was going to talk to Hermione and Ron later about this observation. Before his thoughts could go any further a trap door opened above them, and a silver ladder descended.

It was time for classes.

Harry stared at the classroom in disbelief, wondering if it even had the right to be called such. The second thing he did was wince inwardly. The transfer students were sure to get an…interesting opinion of the teachers if this was the first classroom they had been in, on Hogwarts grounds.

"...well now…what is this supposed to be?" the longhaired brunet asked, as he was the first of his group up the ladder. The way he was looking around told Harry that he was not impressed with the way the place was set up. Not that Harry was either. The heavy incense, round tables, poufs, and squishy looking armchairs, was not what he had in mind for a classroom. So the transfers really couldn't be blamed for their show of slight distain when they entered the 'classroom' at all.

"A classroom…I think." Harry answered, looking around the room, before making his way to a round table, where Hermione and Ron were already seated.

"You think? Didn't you go here for the last two school years?" Kiba, as Neji had wandered off when Harry had not immediately replied, asked following behind Harry like a lost puppy.

"Er…yeah. Never saw a classroom like this though." Harry answered, and Kiba opened his mouth to ask something else, but Ron cut him off as soon as they were close enough to the table.

"Quit badgering him, and get your own table." Ron snapped, before Kiba could say anything, making the transfer scowl.

"I liked your brothers better…" he grumbled, before walking off to seat himself with the other three Japanese students.

"WHAT?...bloody transfers." Ron growled, feathers ruffled from being compared to his elder siblings once again. It was never fun being the youngest, or second youngest. Ever.

"You were quite rude to them to begin with Ron." Hermione unhelpfully pointed out, making Ron gape at her.

"Who's side are you on Hermione?" he asked in disbelief. Harry, who had seated himself between the two, on accident, ducked his head, as if that would help him avoid their argument.

"Ours." Hermione reply to Ron's question was colder than ice. Harry swore his glasses frosted over.

"Er…oh look the professor is here!" He finally found a way to break up the argument, by spitting out something random – which happened to be true, as the professor showed up as soon as he finished his comment.

He got two weird looks for his timing.

"_I think the red-head doesn't like me."_ Kiba said, as soon as he sat down. Gaara raised an eyebrow at this.

"_I would assume you are talking about Ronald, and not me."_ The red-head commented, and Kiba only shrugged.

"_Actually…both of you don't seem to like me."_ Was all he said to that, worried that if he went any further something bad was going to happen. And from the way Akamaru whimpered his dog thought so too.

"_Could you just tell us why you are here?"_ Neji asked, his thinly veiled anger quite apparent. It didn't help that he had chosen an armchair and Miya was perched on the back. With the dim lighting she was only a large black-winged shape, and Neji's features were all but shadowed completely. It took more courage than Kiba wanted to admit to, for him, to speak after he glanced in his direction. He also wondered if Hyuuga took extra lessons in intimidation.

"_Ron kinda told me to shove off. In not as few words, but still."_ He replied, sinking further, if possible, into the pouf he had seated himself on.

"_Hmn…I thought they liked you?"_ Shikamaru asked next, quite aware that Neji was not pleased with this new development. It would be best to give the Hyuuga time to calm down.

"_Don't look at me! I thought so too! Damnit…what now?"_ he felt safer ranting at Shikamaru's question, because the lazy genius was not likely to gut him for such a thing. Only…it was not Shikamaru who replied.

"_Try again in the next class."_ Was the frigidly cold reply from the Hyuuga.

"_G-got it."_ Dear gods that boy scared him. Only two things scared him more at that school, and they were Gaara, and the other guards – the Dementors. No wonder Dumbledore had hired them. Things like that could not be trusted. He was brought back to earth by a voice from the shadows.

"Welcome. How nice to see you in the physical world at last." And that was their cue to stop talking, and look over to the professor.

She reminded them of an extremely large and human shaped bug. That or a valued statue of a petty daimyo, with all the jewels and glitter all over. And with how badly some of it went together.

"_She's a teacher?"_ Neji asked, looking like someone had just shown him a green sky. Not that the others three were any less aghast, but Neji had been the only one to find his voice. But since they were paying no attention to her they all were a bit startled when she suddenly singled out someone from the class.

"You, boy. Is your grandmother well?" she asked the boy who had almost toppled off his pouf. They heard him answer in a shaky voice, saying that he was sure his grandmother was okay.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear." The woman replied, and continued on. The shinobi exchanged glances, wondering if the woman had any credibility in her field or if she was just throwing random things out there to impress them. But as the class went on it became obvious that she was no more able to see the future than any one of them.

"_This is a waste of time."_ Gaara grumbled as he scowled down at the teacup, Neji's, in front of him. Neji only sighed.

"_That I have noticed."_ He muttered. It was only the first day of this class and he already wanted out…not a good sign.

"_We're supposed to see things in these blobs of goop?"_ Kiba, who was seated across from them, demanded in a loud whisper.

"_Kiba…"_ Shikamaru warned, noticing how Neji and Gaara glared at him.

"_Seriously. I see blobs. Kinda lumpy goop, but still a pile of goopy mess."_ Kiba continued, still not catching the glares as he continued to scowl down at the tea leaves.

"_Keep it down Inuzuka."_ Neji finally ground out, and Kiba looked up, a bit startled at the tone.

"_Don't tell me you can see things in that mess!"_ it was supposed to be a question, but came out more as an angry whispered shout. Once again Neji was glaring at him.

"…_no. But you are annoying."_ He said, as he returned to the cup, his brows creasing again in annoyance. But it was then that the teacher decided to come around their table.

"Dears, could you please use English?" she asked, as she heard them talking in Japanese. She received a collective "We will," before they went back to their books. After she had moved away they lapsed back into silence as they tried to figure out how to take this class seriously.

A scream and the sound of breaking china cut their musings short. They shot to their feet, and faced the source of the sound, only to see Trelawney collapsed in an armchair.

"The Grim, my dear, the Grim! The giant spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen – the worst omen – of death!" the professor cried, after noticing that they did not understand the impact of such an omen. However, at the mention of death haunting their charge – whether from such an obvious fraud or not – the shinobi tensed.

"_Great…an omen of Death…troublesome."_ Shikamaru grumbled, as he and the others gathered their things as Trawny dismissed them.

He didn't need to voice the sinking feeling that all of them had.

(A/N: sorry for the wait, but my muse is a bit scattered…I'll try to get the other up soon. And thanks to all for sticking with me! You don't know how much that means.)


End file.
